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The Catholic Church in 
America has been placed 
under the special patronage 
of the Blessed Virgin, un- 
der the title of her Im- 
maculate Conception. 
This picture, a reproduc- 
tion of the painting by 
Murillo, now in the Louvre, 
Paris, represents our Bles- 
sed Lady, to whom this 
work is humbly dedicated 
on behalf of American 
Children of Mary. 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS 



Religion's Story. What Catholics Believe and Practice. 
What We Have Done and Are Doing. 
Answers to Charges Made Against the Church. 
A Busy Person's Reference Work. 
A Home Library. 



Compiled by 

THE REVEREND C. F. DONOVAN 

n 

Managing Editor The New World, Official Catholic Newspaper 
of the Archdiocese of Chicago 



Foreword by 

THE RIGHT REVEREND P. C. KELLEY, D. D. 

Protonotary Apostolic 
President of the Catholic Church Extension Society of America 
Editor Extension Magazine 



PATRICK L. BAINE 
CHICAGO, 1922 



3 

OFFICIAL APPROVAL 



Nihil Obstat. 

VERY REV. P. X. McCABE, C. M., D. D. 

Censor Deputatis. 



Imprimatur. 

GEORGE W. MUNDELEIN, D. D. 

Archbishop of Chicago 
September 1, 1922 



Copyright, 1922, by Patrick L. Baine 
(All Rights Reserved.^ 



Press of St. Mary's Training School, Des Plaines, 111. 

DEC -i '22 

©C1A692181 



Our Faith and the Facts 



FOREWORD 



HE CATHOLIC CHURCH is the Almoner of the World, because she 



is the channel of God 's grace to man. In the Mass she applies the infinite 



merit of the Sacrifice of the Cross to redeem him; while by the same 
act giving to God the high and mighty worship that was prefigured as well 
as prophesied for forty centuries; and now, for twenty is offered "from the 
rising of the sun to the going down of the same" in every land beneath the 
firmament, and before all the peoples inhabiting this earth. In her Sacra- 
ments she endows him with spiritual strength according to the needs of his 
life, and of his station or office therein. 

These Sacraments meet him at the cradle and leave him only with his last 
breath. In her Liturgy she finds her way into the deep recesses of his heart 
and soul, softens the hardness of his human pride, melts the coldness of his 
human vanity, draws upward to the plane of the spirit his earth-bound 
thoughts and actions. In her Doctrine she enlightens him on the most im- 
portant and sublime truths, thus laying the sure and safe foundation upon 
which to build the structure of true science. In her history, as well as in 
the record of the ages of darkness but also of hope that preceded it, she gives 
to his artistic nature inspiration for the highest forms and creations of the 
work of his brain and of his hands, enabling him to produce works which 
outlive his own term of earthly existence, and send his message of faith and 
virtue into the lives of his children and his children's children. Nothing that 
man as a spiritual being needs is she unable or unwilling to supply. She is 
the Giver of Gifts by excellence, the Teacher of Teachers by right of her 
mission, the Judge of Judges by the authority of the justice that was been 
put in her by Divine Justice, the Guide through dangers. She is eyes for the 
blind, hearing for the deaf, voice for the voiceless, consolation for the poor 
and the sorrowful, and the one safe direction for the rich and the powerful. 
"Come, let us go to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God 
of Jacob, and He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths ; for 
the law shall come forth from Sion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusa- 
lem. (Is. n. 2-3.) 




OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 

FOREWORD (Continued) 

Of all the tasks to which men may set their hands and hearts, there is 
none so profitable as that of leading others to the feet of this mighty Giver 
of Gifts, this Almoner of the World ; since there is no reward like the reward 
of those who instruct others unto justice. But to do that, knowledge and 
inspiration both are needed. Within the pages of this book is the knowledge, 
and out of that, warmed by a generous and zealous heart in which God's 
grace has found refuge, will flow the inspiration. Years of one man's 
life went into the gathering of its treasures, but behind him is the devotion 
and loving labor of many who worked to the same end; and we live in an 
age of intellectual plenty, for we have inherited the riches of the wise, who 
have gone before. 

This book is not alone a man's tribute to Truth, but the gleanings of 
many saints and sages who have followed the Divine Harvester, bound into 
a sheaf by one man's hands. And in it he has done a blessed work, because 
the task that produced it was a labor of love. Herein he gives to others the 
things that were his own first inspiration to effort. He sends them out written 
and bound into a book, praying that they may go even farther than the print 
that contains them, for Truth gives of itself yet loses nothing in the giving. 

FRANCIS CLEMENT KELLEY, 

Protonotary Apostolic. 



Our Faith and the Facts 



PREFACE 

SAINT PAUL said long ago that Christians should be prepared to give a 
reason for the Faith that is in them. Catholics of today believe that there 
never was a time in the history of the Church of Christ when there was 
greater need for giving reasons — with explanation attached — for the Faith in 
which we believe and which we practise. 

Ours is a duty to practise what we believe. There must be just as many 
answers to enquiries concerning the doctrines of the Church as there are con- 
sistent, practical Church members. We meet so many non-Catholics, sincere 
and well-disposed, that we must be ready to answer their enquiries with facts 
and information drawn from authentic and easily accessible sources. 

All Catholics, men and Avomen, at different times meet this demand. More- 
over, when employed in stores, offices or factories, there is a distribution of 
non-Catholic literature with which to contend. Anti-Catholic literature pro- 
vides a hostile attitude toward our people sometimes. A ready intelligent 
answer will soften this and do much to remove doubts from the mind of a well- 
disposed enquirer, often preventing him from drifting into the ranks of the 
"antis" in their un-American propaganda. Even in the mind of an evident 
bigot the knowledge of our religion commands respect for our teaching and 
for ourselves. And it shows the Catholic that his is a Church which it does no 
man honor to hate and gives no man shame to respect and love. A judicious 
explanation of our Faith never fails to annihilate suspicion and ill-will. 

' ' Catholics and non-Catholics live and work together in this country, asso- 
ciated in business and united by every tie that binds, except that of religion. 
Why should not Catholics and Protestants live in peace and harmony in a land 
for which they have fought, whose liberties they enjoy, and whose development 
is their joint endeavor?" If a better understanding of our Faith, if a timely 
application of "facts," obtained in this work can assist this union of heart and 
mind, even in only one remote case, then many of the reasons for the existence 
of "Our Faith and the Facts" shall have been justified. 

To supply a ready reference library for the average man and woman is the 
purpose of this compilation. To furnish the same for busy people, with just 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 

PREFACE (Continued) 

enough on each of the great variety of subjects treated to supply facts and to 
encourage more extensive reading of authors better qualified to discuss matters 
which call for the study of a lifetime, is included in this purpose. Recognized 
authors supply the information given here in all cases where the definition 
of the Church is not plainly evident. Other men's minds contribute the facts, 
and every effort is made to give them all due credit. The compiler claims 
credit for nothing more than the arrangement of matter, which suffers, of 
course, in the necessary reduction process. But where every opportunity is 
given, and every encouragement offered readers to consult authorities on indi- 
vidual subjects, it is felt that this deficiency will be overlooked, especially if 
any advantage be found in the present arrangement, intended, as it is, for the 
every-day man and woman, with perhaps no more time at disposal than suffi- 
cient to satisfy the demand of the occasion. 

It would be presumption to say that all obscurities have been swept away ; 
to think that all subjects have been treated. The average American's problems 
have been kept in mind. Effort has been directed to let in light to dispel the 
clouds of doubt which often surround us. For such instances the compiler gives 
credit where it is due, to the authors quoted; for instances of incomplete ex- 
planation or of downright failure he can only crave forbearance. 

THE COMPILER. 

Chicago, 1922. 



Plan of Contents In Chapters 



1. Church History and Government. 

2. The Church in America. 
3. Religious Orders in America. 

4. Education in America. 

5. Catholic Reading and Press. 

6. How the Church Cares for Her Children. 
Social Work of the Church. 

7. Church Care of Workers. 
8. Socialism and Other Near-Religions. 

9. Catholic Societies. 

Societies of Catholic Men and Women. 

10. The Forbidden Societies. 

11. Our Non-Catholic Neighbors. 

12. Heresies Against Catholic Doctrines. 
The Reformation. 

13. Present Day Attitude Towards the Church. 

14. Charges Made Against the Church. 
Church Teachings Misunderstood. 

15. Converts to the Church. 

16. The Bible. 
The So- Called Bible Myths. 

17. Explanation of Our Devotions. 

18. The Sacraments. 

19. Sacramentals and Pious Practices. 

20. Popular Devotions Among the Faithful. 

21. Woman's Place in the Church. 

22. The Stage. 

23. An Arrangement of Practical Questions and Answers. 

24. Dictionary of Catholic Terms. 
Bibliography. 
Topical Index of Contents. 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin . (Frontispiece) 

Our Holy Father Pope Pius XI Facing Page 16 

Sistine Chapel Interior, Vatican 32 

His Eminence Cardinal O'Connell 64 

Public Consistory, Vatican 80 

His Eminence Cardinal Dougherty 112 

Most Reverend Archbishop Mundelein 128 

Archbishops of the United States 160 

" " " " 176 

" " " " 208 

Catholic University of America, and National Shrine. .. .224 

Grand Old Men of the Church 256 

Administrative Committee, Nat. Catholic Welfare Council. 272 
Knights of Columbus, Monument to Columbus and 

Supreme Directors 304 

Passion Play Scene at Ober-Ammergau 320 

St. Mary of the Lake Seminary 352 

Holy Name Society Tribute to Our Holy Father — 

Father Ripple 368 

Shrine of St. Anne de Beaupre 400 

Shrines of Our Blessed Lady 416 

The Chapel Car for Home Missions 448 

St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York 464 

St. Louis Cathedral, St. Louis 496 

Holy Night, 512 

Easter Dawn 544 

Jesus and Little Children 560 



CHAPTER I 

Church History and Government 

Early Narrative — The Coming of Christ — His Public Life — The Apostles — 
Miracles of Jesus — The Last Supper — His Passion — Crucifixion — Later Events — The 
Early Church — Careers of the Apostles — Their Last Resting Places — Early Church 
Organization — Persecutions — Work of the Cross — Missionary Labors — Crusades — 
The Middle Ages— The Great Desertion — More Recent Events. 

The Catholic Hierarchy — How the Church Is Governed — College of Cardinals — 
The Conclave — Election of a Pope — Various Forms — Announcing a Choice — List 
of the Popes — The Vatican and Its Buildings — St. Peter's Basilica — The Vatican 
Prisoner — The Bishops at Rome — Visit ad Limina— The Sistine Choir — Its History 
— Temporal Power of the Pope — Its Acquisition — Its Loss — The Popes and Arbi- 
tration — Concordats. 



Early Narrative. 

The greatest event in the history of 
God's dealings with men is the Re- 
demption of the world by Jesus 
Christ, the Son of God. 

The coming of the Redeemer was 
promised by God to our first parents 
after the fall, and this promise was 
renewed from time to time to the pat- 
riarchs and prophets, whom God 
raised up to keep alive in the hearts 
of His people His traditions and His 
revelations. 

The nations who had fallen away 
into idolatry retained only an ob- 
scure and distorted idea of the future 
incarnation of God and the Redemp- 
tion. Their belief, that their gods 
had appeared in human form among 
men was a distorted tradition of the 
mystery of the Incarnation. The 
Greeks, for instance, preserved in 
their legend of Prometheus (their 
name for Adam) an old prophecy, 



that the son of their highest god 
would become man and be born of a 
virgin-mother in order to redeem our 
fallen race. "We read that in the 
year 64 after Christ, Mingdi, the em- 
peror of China, sent ambassadors 
westwards to search for the divine 
teacher foretold in ancient Chinese 
books. Having come to India, they 
found there the religion of Buddha, 
which they embraced, mistaking it 
for the true. The coming of the Wise 
men from the East proves most 
clearly that the traditions of a Savior 
to come lived among the Gentiles. 
Suetonius and Tacitus, writers of an- 
cient pagan Rome, have recorded that 
at the time of the birth of Christ, the 
world was full of rumors about a mys- 
terious power, which, according to old 
traditions, was to rise in Palestine 
and rule the whole world. 

The people of Israel alone preserved 
the true traditions about the Redeem- 



14 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



er, and it is quite evident that it was 
their mission to prepare for and to 
foreshadow the future kingdom of 
God on earth. Israel was brought by 
God to Palestine into the middle of 
the great historical nations of an- 
tiquity. The Babylonian, Assyrian 
and Persian kingdoms east and north, 
Egypt south, the Macedonian and 
Roman empires west, all made Israel 
share in the world moving history. 
Hence Ezechiel, the prophet, called 
Jerusalem "gate of the nations." 

Palestine lay on the great thor- 
oughfare leading from Africa into 
Asia, while the Red and the Mediter- 
ranean seas gave it a water-way to 
India and to the great nations of the 
west. Thus Israel's children, bearing 
the hope of the Messiah to come, 
spread into all lands, thereby prepar- 
ing the way for the apostles, who set 
forth from Jerusalem to evangelize 
the world. 

God sustained Israel in this mission 
of keeping alive the hope of the Mes- 
siah by frequent prophecies and by 
His miraculous protection and guid- 
ance. And He fulfilled His promise 
and His prophecies, when He sent His 
only begotten Son, our Savior, Jesus 
Christ, who was conceived by the Holy 
Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary. 

The Coming of Christ. 

At the time of our Savior's birth 
the whole world was at peace. Au- 
gustus was emperor of Rome, and 
Herod, king of Judea. Jesus was 
born of the Virgin Mary in a stable 
at Bethlehem. His coming into the 
world was announced by Angels to 



the shepherds, who were watching 
their flocks at night. Three kings, 
led by a star, came from the East to 
worship Him. Herod, the king, was 
angry when it was announced to him 
that the ' ' King of the Jews, ' ' long fore- 
told, was born, and he endeavored to 
put Jesus to death, slaying, in the 
attempt to do so, several thousands 
of infants. He hoped by this means 
to include the child of Mary, but, 
warned in a dream, Joseph, the fos- 
ter-father of Jesus, removed the Di- 
vine Child and His mother to a place 
of safety in Egypt. After some years 
they returned, to live at Nazareth, in 
Galilee. Here Jesus remained sub- 
ject to His parents until His matur- 
ity, there being practically only one 
incident mentioned to illumine what 
writers call the "hidden life" of 
Jesus, and that was The Finding in 
the Temple. At the age of twelve, 
He, with His parents, went up to 
Jerusalem to celebrate the Pasch, or 
Passover, a story told in the Gospel. 

His Public Life. 

"When thirty years old, the inter- 
vening years having been spent in 
the privacy of His home, where He 
lived with His mother, we find the 
first incident of His public life in His 
Baptism by St. John the Baptist. 
Then our Lord was led away by the 
Spirit into the desert for fasting and 
prayer for forty days. Coming forth 
in the strength of His victory, He be- 
gan the work of Redemption by gath- 
ering together disciples, later to found 
a Church by which His teachings 
should be spread over the whole 



CHURCH HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT. 15 



world. He went about the country 
preaching and teaching the people,, 
and the first members of His Church 
came from every walk in life. He 
proved the truth of His teaching by 
so many miracles, that from the first, 
He attracted nation-wide attention. 
Many believed Him to be the Messiah. 
All held Him in the greatest respect, 
traveling great distances to hear Him, 
even to see Him. 

The Apostles. 

He chose from those who had come 
to be known as His followers, twelve 
men, whom He knew to be fit for the 
work of spreading the Gospel. They 
were known as His apostles, or mes- 
sengers. They were to receive especial 
preparation during the three years of 
His public life, to be witnesses of His 
teaching and miracles, that, after His 
death, they might preach to the world 
what they had heard and seen. The 
names of the Apostles were : Simon, 
who is called Peter, and Andrew, his 
brother; James, the elder, the son of 
Zebedee, and John, his brother; Philip 
and Bartholemew; Thomas and Mat- 
thew; James the less, the son of 
Alpheus, and Thaddeus his brother, 
sometime called Jude ; Simon the Chan- 
anite and Judas Iscariot, who after- 
wards betrayed Him. He chose also 
seventy-two disciples, who preached His 
Gospel during His own ministry. 

Miracles of Jesus. 

Our Savior gave to the people such 
proofs of His Divine mission on earth 
as never had been given to a people 
before. He made the blind to see, the 



lame to walk ; He restored the sick to 
health, and raised the dead to life. He 
fed the multitude of five thousand on 
a few loaves of bread and a few fishes. 
He fearlessly rebuked the wickedness 
of men in high places, and drew there- 
fore upon Himself their implacable 
hatred. They set out to destroy Him, 
to ruin His work, and the result of 
their calumnious efforts may be judged 
from the contrast between the early 
enthusiastic receptions accorded Him 
and the inhuman attitude of the mob 
on the last day of His life on earth. 

The Last Supper. 

The Gospel tells of the scene in the 
Upper Room where Jesus and His 
apostles gathered to celebrate the 
Pasch. It was to be their last tribute 
to the Old Law. Next day meant the 
death of the Old Dispensation. Our 
Savior's resurrection opened a New 
Law and a new Sacrifice. Yet this 
night all celebrated the feast of the 
Old Law as prescribed. As they were 
eating, Jesus took bread in His Holy 
and venerable hands, blessed it and 
said: "Take ye and eat, for this is 
My Body which shall be delivered for 
you." Then He took a cup of wine 
and gave it to them, saying: "Drink 
ye all of this, for this is my blood, 
which shall be shed for you and for 
many, unto the remission of sins. Do 
this for a commemoration of Me." 
That is to say, "Offer the sacrifice as 
you have seen Me do it. By so doing 
you make a real and true sacrifice of 
My Body and Blood, the same sacrifice 
that to-morrow I shall offer on the 
altar of the Cross. And this you shall 



16 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



do, you and your successors, until I 
come again to judge the world." 

His Passion. 

After this He led them out of the 
city into the Garden of Gethsemane. 
There, in the night, alone, His apos- 
tles asleep, He underwent a great ag- 
ony of suffering for the sins of the 
world. His sweat became as great 
drops of blood trickling down to the 
ground. "My Father," He prayed, 
"if it be possible, let this chalice pass 
from Me. Nevertheless not My will but 
Thine be done !" (St. Matthew, XXVI., 
39.) Then came Judas, one of the 
twelve, with a troop of soldiers, hav- 
ing arranged with the Chief Priests 
for thirty pieces of silver to betray 
Him. Jesus was saluted with the kiss 
of the traitor. He was bound and led 
away to the Hall of the High Priest, 
who afterwards sent Him before Pilate, 
the Roman governor. Fearing the 
fury of the mob, now excited by the 
propaganda of the priests, and de- 
manding His death, Pilate, after the 
cruel scourging, the agonizing Crown- 
ing of Thorns and all the other indig- 
nities heaped upon Jesus, condemned 
Him to be crucified between two 
thieves as a malefactor of the worst 
order. 

On that sorrowful Way of the Cross, 
as it is called by the Church, Jesus, 
tottering under the great weight of 
the Cross, fell three times. Then He 
met His mother. Like a criminal, she 
saw the One, to whom she had given 
birth, going to Calvary to be crucified 
for the sins of the world. And she 
offered Him up to the same God who 



had found her worthy to be the mother 
of the Redeemer of the world. 

The Crucifixion. 

When the sorrowful procession had 
reached Calvary (the place of a skull), 
so called because there was a tradition 
that the skull of Adam was buried 
there, the cross was thrown on the 
ground, Jesus was violently stripped 
of His garments and His hands and 
feet nailed to the instrument of tor- 
ture. The Cross was then raised and 
planted in the ground. For three long 
weary hours Jesus hung between earth 
and sky, while His executioners tor- 
tured Him in the various ways which 
their fiendish minds suggested. A 
little group of his followers, in which 
were His mother and St. John, watched 
the agonizing scene from a little dis- 
tance. Jesus committed Mary, His 
Mother, to the care of St. John. He 
pardoned the thief by His side, some- 
times called Dismas, the Good Thief. 
At the end of three hours He bowed 
His head and yielded up His soul to 
His Father. 

Then there was darkness over the 
earth. The veil of the Temple was 
rent in two. The bodies of the Saints 
arose and appeared to many. There 
was much confusion among the Jews, 
who said, "Surely, This was the Son 
of God." 

Later Events. 

And now came the friends of Jesus, 
with Joseph and Nicodemus at their 
head, to take down the body of Jesus 
and to prepare it for burial. They 
washed it, and anointed it, according 
to their customs, and then, wrapping 




HIS HOLINESS, POPE PIUS XI. 



CHURCH HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT. 17 



it up in a long white linen cloth, placed 
it in a sepulchre which belonged to 
Joseph, who was from Arimathea. 
The Jews, remembering that He had 
said He would rise from the dead the 
third day, set a guard, lest, as they 
said, "the disciples might come and 
steal the body and then say that He 
was risen." Yet Christ rose from the 
dead very early on the morning of 
Sunday. For forty days after this 
He remained on the earth instructing 
and teaching His apostles. He gave 
them the power to forgive sins, and 
commanded them to remain together 
and to await the coming of His Holy 
Spirit. He again appointed Peter as 
head of His Church, constituting him 
His Vicar, and finally, having given 
the apostles orders to preach the Gos- 
pel to the whole world, He left them 
and went up into Heaven, with the 
assurance that He would so come in 
like manner as they had seen Him go 
away. 

The Early Church. 

On Pentecost day came the miracu- 
lous descent of the Holy Ghost, after 
which St. Peter and the other apostles 
began to preach the Gospel in Jerusa- 
lem. They converted 3,000 Jews. The 
number of believers grew daily, and 
the Church spread rapidly over Judea 
and into Samaria, Galilee and the sur- 
rounding countries. At Antioch, the 
capital of Syria, the faithful were 
first called Christians. 

The Apostles did not confine their 
labors to the Jews, for Christ had told 
them to go into the whole world and 
teach all nations ; and the Holy Ghost 



bestowed on them the gift of preaching 
in divers tongues. At the Council of 
the Apostles held in Jerusalem about 
the year 51, it was decreed that con- 
verted Gentiles should be dispensed 
from observing the Mosaic rites. Thus 
the Church showed from the very be- 
ginning the mark of Catholicity. 

Careers of the Apostles. 

St. Peter labored in Palestine, Syria 
and Asia Minor. As head of the 
Church, he presided over the election 
of Matthias to the place left vacant by 
Judas, and over the first Council held 
in Jerusalem. He established his See 
at Antioch, but removed it about the 
year 42 to Eome, the capital of the 
world, which became the seat of the 
Papacy and the center of Christendom. 
There, St. Peter died the death of a 
martyr, June 19, A. D. 67. 

St. Paul, formerly called Saul, and 
a persecutor of the infant Church, was 
converted near Damascus. Having 
been a zealous Apostle, he made four 
great voyages and brought the Gospel 
to Cyprus, Asia Minor, Greece, Italy 
and Spain. After a life of trials he 
obtained the crown of martyrdom, on 
the same day as St. Peter. 

St. John, the beloved of our Lord, 
took under his care, the Blessed Virgin 
entrusted to him by Jesus while dying 
on the cross. He became Bishop of 
Ephesus, and died at a very advanced 
age. 

St. James, the brother of St. John, 
labored in Judea, and as tradition 
states, also in Spain. He was beheaded 
by King Herod Agrippa, A. D. 43. 

St. James the Less became Bishop 



1.8 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



of Jerusalem and was called the 
"Just," on account of his holiness. 
He was martyred by being thrown 
from the wall of the temple in the 
year 63. 

St. Andrew preached in southern 
Russia and on the coast of the Black 
Sea. He was crucified at Patras, 
Greece. 

St. Philip died at Hieropolis in 
Phrygia, Asia. St. Bartholomew went 
to Armenia, where he was martyred, 
being flayed alive. St. Thomas is said 
to have gone to India; St. Jude Thad- 
deus to Syria, Mesopotamia and Per- 
sia; St. Simon to Egypt, Northern 
Africa and Babylon. St. Matthias is 
said to have gone into the countries 
south of the Caucasus mountains, and 
St. Matthew to the countries south of 
the Caspian Sea. 

Everywhere the preaching of the 
Apostles was confirmed by numerous 
miracles, by the sublime holiness of 
their lives, their heroic sacrifice of 
earthly things, and by the shedding 
of their blood in testimony of the 
Faith. 

Their Last Resting Places. 

Of the body of St. John the Evan- 
gelist there are no tidings. No trace 
has ever been found that might indi- 
cate his burial-place. 

St. James, the Greater, is at St. 
J ago de Compostello in Spain. This 
is a place of far-famed pilgrimage be- 
cause of the fact of his burial. 

In Rome, there are seven of the 
Apostles, namely, Saints Peter and 
Paul, Philip, James the Lesser, Jude, 
Bartholomew and Matthias. St. Peter is, 



of course, in the Church named for 
him, because of his tomb being there. 
In St. Peter's are also the bodies of 
Saints Simon and Jude. St. Jude is 
sometimes called St. Thaddeus, for in- 
stance, in the Church of the Lateran, 
where are statues of all the Apostles 
with the name of each carved beneath. 
In the Church of the Holy Apostles 
are St. James the Lesser and St. 
Philip. 

In the ancient kingdom of Naples 
there are St. Matthew, at Salermo ; 
St. Andrew, at Amalfi ; and St. 
Thomas, at Ortona. 

In the island of St. Bartholomew 
in the river Tiber is the body of the 
saint of that name, in the church dedi- 
cated to his memory. 

St. Matthias is at the church of St. 
Mary Major, under the altar of that 
great Basilica. 

Two Evangelists who were not 
Apostles are also in Italy, St. Mark 
at Venice and St. Luke at Padua. 

Although many Jews were con- 
verted, the majority and the leaders 
cf the nation remained obstinate and 
even persecuted the Christians. In 
the year 70, Jerusalem was destroyed 
by a Roman army under Titus. A 
million Jews perished, many were sold 
as slaves and the rest were scattered 
throughout the world. With the de- 
struction of the Temple, the worship 
of the Old Law ceased forever, to 
make room for the New Law of which 
it had been the type. 

Early Church Organization. 

The Apostles converted many thou- 
sands of people in foreign lands, who 



CHURCH HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT. 19 



were organized into congregations, 
and their disciples were placed in 
charge. From these, the religion 
spread in ever widening circles. For 
instance, St. Paul appointed his disci- 
ple Titus, bishop of the island of 
Crete. St. Peter sent St. Mark to 
Alexandria, whence Christianity 
spread all over Egypt. 

St. Justin wrote about the year 150, 
"There is no people, neither among 
the barbarians, nor the Greeks, nor 
any known tribe, where prayers and 
thanksgiving are not offered to God 
in the name of Christ Crucified." 

From Scripture and from Tradition 
we learn the Holy Mass, with Holy 
Communion and instruction, was reg- 
ularly celebrated. (Acts 2, 2.) After 
Baptism, the Sacrament of Confirma- 
tion was conferred, as St. Peter and 
St. John did, in Ephesus (Acts 8, 17 
and 19, 6). The Sacrament of Pen- 
ance and confession of sins is noted in 
Acts 19, 18. Holy Orders was con- 
ferred on Saul and Barnabas, Acts 
13, 3. St. Paul called Matrimony a 
great sacrament in Christ and His 
Church (Eph. 5 32. 1. Cor. 7. 39). St. 
James describes the sacrament of Ex- 
treme Unction (St. James 5. 14). St. 
Ignatius (A. D. 107) wrote of fasting 
in Lent, and of the hierarchy of the 
apostolic age, "Let all be obedient to 
the bishop, as Jesus to the Father, to 
the priests as to the Apostles." 

St. Peter, St. Paul, St. John, St. 
Matthew, St. James, St. Jude, and two 
disciples of the Apostles, St. Luke and 
St. Mark wrote on various occasions, 
and their writings are formed into the 
Mew Testament by the Church as in- 



spired. (See Chapter on the Bible.) 
Several other disciples of the Apostles 
left important writings, for instance, 
St. Clement of Eome wrote a letter to 
the Corinthians; St. Ignatius of Anti- 
och, and St. Polycarp of Smyrna. St. 
Barnabas, an early companion of St. 
Paul, left a letter in which he gives the 
reasons why the Christians discarded 
the Sabbath and substituted Sunday 
as the Lord's Day. All the writers of 
this period refer directly to Church 
practices, as we know them to exist 
today. 

Persecutions. 

The history of the Church in the 
early ages is a history written in blood. 
There were ten great persecutions of 
the Christian Church by the Roman 
emperors. The first was under Nero, 
and the last, under Diocletian, came to 
an end in the year 317 A. D. During 
these years, in spite of persecution, 
the Church gained countless converts 
everywhere, and the numbers of mar- 
tyrs who shed their blood for the Faith 
will never be known on this side of the 
grave. 

All the Popes but one received the 
martyr's crown until the end of the 
last persecution. The reason given for 
these persecutions was the teaching 
of the Christian religion which openly 
condemned the false religions of the 
empire, and taught that only in the 
Name of Jesus could eternal life be 
attained. The fact that Christianity 
endured these attacks, and prospered 
under them, ought to be a standing 
proof of its divinity: for how could 
any merely human institution thrive 
in the midst of such terrible bloodshed 



20 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



and opposition? "The blood of the 
Martyrs is the seed of the Church," 
says one of the writers of these times. 

The Work of the Cross. 

In the year 312 the Church became 
free from her bondage under the per- 
secuting Roman emperors. Diocletian 
had lately boasted that the name of 
Christian was blotted out. There was 
civil war in the empire, between the 
East and the West. One day Constan- 
tine, the Emperor of the West, realiz- 
ing the strength of his enemy forces, 
prayed for the first time to the true 
God for assistance. Suddenly in the 
sky a cross appeared, with these words 
over it : "In this Sign thou shalt con- 
quer." The emperor accepted this as 
his standard in battle, and his army 
was victorious. Constantine then or- 
dered that the Christian religion be 
protected in the empire. 

The Church had conquered over her 
persecutors only to engage in internal 
warfare against those enemies foretold 
by our Lord, "those of His own house- 
hold." Numerous heresies sprang up. 
(See Chapter on Heresies.) General 
Councils were held, based on Apostolic 
practices, under the presidency of the 
Pope or his legates, which councils 
from time to time condemned Arius 
and his successors in heresy promul- 
gation. This age was also that of the 
great teachers called the Fathers of 
the Church, such as St. Athanasius, 
St. Basil, St. Chrysostom, in the East : 
and in the West, St. Ambrose, St. 
Jerome and St. Augustine. In the 
See of Peter were many great Pon- 



tiffs, such as St. Leo the Great, and 
later, St. Gregory the Great. 

Missionary Labors. 

During the third century monastic 
life originated among devout men and 
women who preferred to live in soli- 
tude and silence. Distinguished among 
whom were St. Simon Stylites, St. 
Paul the Hermit and St. Anthony. 
The Hermits preceded the real monas- 
tic life, the patriarch of which in the 
West was St. Benedict, who lived in 
the sixth century. It was the follow- 
ers of St. Benedict who saved religion 
and civilization during the barbarous 
invasion of the wild tribes from Asia 
and the north of Europe, and then 
gave these ancestors of modern Europe 
the doctrine and church of Christ, 
training them in the ways of civilized 
life. 

Meanwhile St. Patrick had converted 
Ireland. France, through St. Martin 
of Tours, England through St. Austin, 
Germany through missionaries from 
Ireland, and later on Slavonia and 
Scandinavia, accepted the Gospel of 
Christ. But these brief sentences 
mean ages of heroic suffering and la- 
bor, and even martyrdom, on the part 
of many thousands of Catholic mis- 
sionaries. 

In the seventh century Mohamme- 
danism arose, a fanatical sect founded 
upon the lying visions of Mohammed, 
the world's greatest deceiver. In the 
East it gradually gained ground, and 
nearly destroyed Christianity in those 
countries. The West was saved from 
it by the Crusades, or the wars of the 
Cross, inspired by the Popes and 



CHURCH HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT. 21 



preached by such servants of God as 
Peter the Hermit and St. Bernard. 

The Crusaders. 

The Crusades (1095-1272) were mil- 
itary expeditions under the banner of 
the Cross, undertaken by the princes 
of western Europe to deliver the Holy 
Land from the Mahometans, who were 
persecuting resident Christians and 
pilgrims, and desecrating sacred places 
in the Holy Land. There were eight 
of these expeditions, but from a mili- 
tary viewpoint the first was the most 
important, the only one that fully 
achieved its object. 

The first Crusade was headed by 
Godfrey, Duke of Boulogne. Under 
him the Crusaders won victory after 
victory, and finally Godfrey was 
crowned King, after the capture of 
Jerusalem, A. D. 1099. 

The next in importance was the 
third Crusade, which was undertaken 
at a time when Saladin, the famous 
Saracen Sultan, had taken Jerusalem 
and nearly all Palestine from the 
Christians. England, Prance and 
Germany took part in this Crusade, 
with Eichard I of England as its prin- 
cipal leader. The Crusaders made a 
good beginning, but, owing to dissen- 
sions among their leaders, they were 
forced to abandon their enterprise. 
The other Crusades were only partly 
successful, at least in a military way, 
and the Mahometans gradually re- 
gained their sway over all Palestine. 

The benefits of the Crusades were 
innumerable and many of them can 
be felt even to this day. They saved 
Europe from being overrun by the 



Eastern barbarians, and promoted 
concord among Christian princes in 
Europe by uniting them against a 
common enemy. They relieved the 
Feudal System of many oppressive 
features, made travelling more easy 
and secure, improved navigation, gave 
facilities to commerce, awakened a 
spirit of enterprise, and by sustaining 
communication with Greece and Syria 
materially assisted in the spread of 
art and science. England took a lead- 
ing part in the Crusades. Prance was 
in no manner less prominent however, 
while Germany, Spain and Italy were 
active in the work of the Cross to 
which Europe owes so much. 

The Middle Ages. 

In these centuries (called the middle 
ages) arose the great institutions of 
learning in Europe. In 1500, there 
were 66 universities, holding charters 
from the Pope. Paris alone had 20,000 
students. The great inventions of the 
period were all fostered by the Church, 
such as printing by Guttenberg 
(1450). Arts acknowledged such dis- 
tinguished men as Angelo, Raphael, 
Reni, Dante, Petrarch. 

The rulers of the nations were not 
as well converted as were their sub- 
jects, and there were many disputes 
with the Church as to her authority. 
In spite of the great missionaries whom 
God raised up, like St. Francis of As- 
sisi, St. Dominic, St. Vincent Ferrer, 
and St. John Capistran, heresy found 
enough of fostering among the rulers 
to keep it alive. The sixteenth cen- 
tury then found the world ready for 
the great desertion. Great plagues 



22 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



had laid waste the population, the 
ranks of the clergy were decimated, 
and the people were not instructed, 
either from lack of priests and teach- 
ers or from other conditions which ac- 
count for popular unrest. 

The Great Desertion. 

In Germany the rebellion against 
the Christian Church was led by Lu- 
ther, an apostate monk. (See chapter.) 
In England it was begun by a tyrant 
king, served by greedy nobles and 
weak-kneed subjects. The English 
people never really desired the false 
religion, in fact, resented it and fought 
against it; but by mingled cunning 
and violence it finally prevailed. Half 
of Germany and Switzerland, all of 
Ireland and Poland, most of the Neth- 
erlands and all of Southern Europe 
remained Catholic. 

Protestantism became the name of 
the new faith. Luther and Calvin in 
Europe, and the rulers of England, 
were its founders and leaders. By the 
favor of princes who enriched them- 
selves on the Church's property, it ob- 
tained control of most of the nations 
of Northern Europe. Disputes, dis- 
union, contention, and cruel religious 
wars sprang up, not only between 
Catholics and Protestants, but among 
Protestants themselves. The Holy 
Father assembled the General Council 
of Trent, in the middle of the sixteenth 
century. Its success was marvelous. 
The progress of error was stayed, the 
entire Church was filled with new life. 
Saints appeared everywhere: new re- 
ligious orders, among them the Jesuits, 
founded by St. Ignatius Loyola, aided 



in spreading truth ; the older ones kept 
up their activities and the newly dis- 
covered parts of the world, in America 
and Asia, gave to the Church new races 
of Christians in place of those lost to 
the faith in Europe. A devout Chris- 
tian life was taught by such men as 
St. Francis de Sales and St. Philip 
Neri. 

In charitable work the Church won 
the greatest victories. St. Vincent de 
Paul founded the order of the Sisters 
of Charity — the first of hundreds of 
other such orders. 

More Recent Events. 

During the last two centuries Eu- 
rope has undergone many political and 
social convulsions. The Church has 
suffered much both in the person of 
her chief ruler, the Pope, and in her 
clergy and people. France and Portu- 
gal in particular have been torn by 
government oppression and persecu- 
tion. There the Religious Orders have 
been driven out, their property con- 
fiscated and priests forbidden to con- 
tinue their work unless they proved 
completely subservient to unfriendly 
authority. Gradually, however, con- 
ditions are righting themselves. The 
Religious Orders have returned. The 
Hospital sisters in a few cases were 
invited, even before the war of 1914, 
to take up their former work. Their 
patriotism at this critical period is il- 
lustrated elsewhere. There is now 
prospect of a universal return to for- 
mer religious conditions. 

The Catholic Hierarchy. 

The Catholic Hierarchy, the govern- 
ing body of the Holy Catholic Church, 



CHURCH HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT. 23 



consists : 1. His Holiness the Sover- 
eign Pontiff, assisted by the Sacred 
College of Cardinals and by twelve 
Sacred Congregations, three Tribunals, 
five Offices and three Commissions ; 
II. The Patriarchs, Archbishops, and 
Bishops; III. The Apostolic Delegates, 
Vicars and Prefects; and IV. Certain 
Abbots and Prelates. 

The Bishop of Rome and Vicar of 
Jesus Christ, the two hundred and 
sixtieth successor of St. Peter, Prince 
of the Apostles: Supreme Pontiff of 
the Universal Church, Patriarch of the 
West, Primate of Italy, Archbishop 
and Metropolitan of the Roman Prov- 
ince, Sovereign of the Temporal Do- 
minions of the Holy Roman Church is 
His Holiness Pope Pius XI. (Achille 
Ratti) born in Desio, March 31, 1857; 
ordained priest 1879 : Apostolic Vis- 
itor to Poland 1918 : Appointed Apos- 
tolic Nuncio 1919: Appointed to titu- 
lar see of Lepanto 1919 : Created Car- 
dinal June 16, 1921: Cardinal Arch- 
bishop of Milan June, 1921: Elected 
Pope February 6, 1922 : Crowned Feb- 
ruary 12, 1922. 

How the Church Is Governed. 

The affairs of the Church are con- 
ducted by what is called the Roman 
Curia, made up of Cardinals, Bishops, 
Priests. These men are arranged into 
various committees or congregations, 
with duties somewhat as follows : 

The Holy Office Congregation con- 
ducts defense of doctrine, passes judg- 
ment on heresy, use of indulgences, 
questions of the Sacraments, etc. 

The Consistory prepares work for 



consistories, considers erection of new 
dioceses, choice of bishops, government 
of dioceses, seminaries, etc. 

The Discipline of the Sacraments 
committee considers Dispensations. 

The Council controls discipline of 
the clergy and of the faithful, fasts, 
feasts, etc. Sodalities, church goods, 
etc. 

The Religious committee holds regu- 
lation of religious orders, vows and 
precepts. 

The Propagation of the Faith con- 
trols missionary work. 

The Index congregation examines 
dangerous books and periodicals, and 
when necessary passes on their con- 
demnation. 

The Sacred Rites congregation con- 
trols ceremonies of the Church, Beati- 
fication and Canonization of Saints, 
Sacred Relics. 

The Ceremonial body conducts cere- 
monies in the Pontifical Chapel and 
Court. 

Business affairs committee arranges 
all matters submitted by the Cardinal 
Secretary of State. 

The congregation of studies has the 
regulation of educational features, col- 
leges, universities, degrees, etc. 

Beside these congregations there are 
the tribunals which control affairs of 
Penance and all possible cases. There 
is the Apostolic Chancery office with 
the Secretary of State in charge, where 
administration of property, conferring 
of honors, promotion of Scripture 
study, and general care for the pres- 
ervation of the Faith, are the principal 
activities. 



24 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



The duties of each of these congre- 
gations have been condensed for bet- 
ter understanding. On the death of 
the Pope, the Cardinal Camerlengo 
(Chamberlain), has administration of 
the affairs of the Holy See. 

The College of Cardinals. 

The Sacred College is directly rep- 
resentative of the entire Catholic 
world. It is literally an "Interna- 
tional" body. As now constituted, the 
Sacred College consists in about equal 
parts of Italians and members of other 
nationalities, about seventy in all. 
There are six Cardinal bishops whose 
sees are near Rome, fifty Cardinal 
priests who take their titles from the 
"titular" churches to which they are 
appointed and fourteen Cardinal dea- 
cons appointed to other churches. 

Until the time of Pope Pius X the 
power of veto was several times exer- 
cised, even in the conclave, by Cardi- 
nals who had come to Eome with in- 
structions from the monarchs of their 
nations that the election of some Car- 
dinal, believed to be friendly to an- 
other power, should not be permitted. 
This power of veto, always protested 
by the Popes, has now been removed 
altogether. Because of this attempted 
interference by rulers, Pope Pius is- 
sued new orders for the conduct of 
the conclave. The English-speaking 
Cardinals now (1922) in the Sacred 
College are: Cardinal Dougherty and 
Cardinal O'Connell of the United 
States : Cardinals Bourne and Gasquet 
of England: Begin of Canada: and 
Logue of Ireland. In addition to 
these, however, there is Cardinal Fal- 



conio, who although Italian by birth, 
is a naturalized American citizen who 
for years was Apostolic delegate at 
Washington. 

Many new Cardinals were created by 
Pope Benedict at the Consistories re- 
cently held and it is a notable fact 
that men who rose within the Church, 
from the position of simple parish 
priests of humble families, rank 
equally in the selections with those of 
noble blood, a conclave. 

A Conclave. 

A conclave may be briefly defined 
as a congress of Cardinals who have 
assembled for the election of a suc- 
cessor of St. Peter. The word also 
means the closed hall or apartments 
where the Cardinals remain during the 
election. 

The election of the Roman Pontiff 
was not always carried out in the same 
way. We give here only the chief 
rules that govern the election of the 
Pope at present. All previous legis- 
lation concerning the Conclave was 
codified and renewed in the year 1904 
by the Constitution (Vacante Sede 
Apostolica) in which the most minute 
precautions are taken to secure a free 
and rapid election. In this new Con- 
stitution the right of choosing the Pope 
is reserved to the Cardinals. The right 
of sharing in the election is enjoyed 
by all the Cardinals who have received 
at least the order of the diaconate. 
Later legislation concerning the time 
when they must reach the place of the 
Conclave was enacted under Pope Pius 
XL Instead of beginning after ten 
days have elapsed since the death of 



CHURCH HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT. 25 



the Pope, the Cardinals have now an 
extension of time to enter the Con- 
clave and proceed to the election. If 
a Cardinal arrives after the electors 
have entered the Conclave, and before 
the new Pope has been elected, he has 
the right to be admitted. The Cardi- 
nals are to meet first for the celebra- 
tion of the Mass of the Holy Ghost. 
They are admonished by the Cardinal 
Dean (first Cardinal Bishop), "to lay 
aside all private feelings and with God 
alone before their eyes to make it their 
care with all possible despatch and 
diligence to provide a capable and 
suitable Pastor for the Holy Roman 
and Universal Church." 

Election of a Pope. 

After the divine service, they enter 
the Conclave, the Dean of the Cardi- 
nals reciting a prayer at the altar. The 
Constitutions are read. The oath is 
pronounced by all the Cardinals, who 
then retire to the cells which have been 
assigned them by lot. 

Each Cardinal is allowed to bring 
with him two or three attendants, but 
with the exception of some officials 
specified in the law, such as sacristans, 
masters of ceremonies, physicians, etc., 
no one is allowed to remain with the 
Cardinals in the Conclave. 

All the officials of the conclave and 
all the attendants then take the oaths 
in the prescribed forms. The same is 
done by the prelates to whom the cus- 
tody of the Conclave is entrusted. The 
bell is then rung three times and all 
others are excluded. The Conclave 
is closed. The Cardinals who are 
heads of orders, with lighted candles, 



diligently examine the place to see that 
nobody forbidden has remained within. 
All the Conclavists are to be identified 
and they are ordered to enter the 
chapel and are afterward separately 
examined. 

No letters or writings of any kind, 
even printed matter, are to be sent 
to those in the Conclave, and still less 
from the Conclave to persons outside. 
Daily papers or periodicals are abso- 
lutely forbidden. Secrecy is to be re- 
ligiously observed concerning every- 
thing relating to the election of the 
Fope. Everything, words, writings, 
signs and every other means whatso- 
ever which might lead directly or in- 
directly to a violation of secrecy, must 
be avoided and guarded against under 
pain of excommunication. Cardinals 
are not to make known to their Con- 
clavists or attendants anything what- 
ever regarding the voting and they 
must observe secrecy even after the 
election. 

Forms of Election. 

The Constitution (Vacante Sede 
Apostolica) allows three kinds or 
forms of election, called respectively : 
inspiration, (inspiratio) ; compromise, 
(compromissum) ; scrutiny or ballot, 
(scrutinium). The first form, which is 
very extraordinary, would be observed 
if without any previous special con- 
sultation, at the mere proposal of a 
candidate made by one of the Car- 
dinals, the others present should at 
once and unanimously express their 
consent orally or in writing. The sec- 
ond form is followed if all the Cardi- 
nals present empower three, five or 



26 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



seven Cardinals to elect the new Pope, 
and promise to recognize as Pope the 
person so chosen. According to the 
third form of procedure, which is the 
one ordinarily observed, a candidate, 
to be elected, must have in his favor 
the votes of two-thirds of the Cardinals 
present. The votes must be secret, and 
for this reason they must be given in 
writing, on papers especially prepared 
for the purpose, and folded in such a 
way that the name of the elector can 
not be seen even by the tellers. If 
nobody should receive the necessary 
number of votes on the first ballot, a 
second ballot is immediately taken. 
Thus two ballots are taken in the morn- 
ing and two in the afternoon, until 
some one receives the two-thirds re- 
quired by the law. 

After the election, as soon as a Car- 
dinal receives the necessary two-thirds 
vote, the consent of the elected is to 
be asked by the Cardinal Dean; and 
the moment he expresses his consent 
he becomes Pope ipso facto, and ac- 
quires supreme jurisdiction over the 
Universal Church. The election is then 
published to the people by the first 
Cardinal Deacon. Finally, the suc- 
cessor of St. Peter is solemnly crowned 
by the Dean of the Cardinal Deacons. 

Announcing a Choice. 

The method of announcing that the 
Conclave has come to a choice is very 
ancient. After each vote the ballots 
are burned in a small stove. When 
that vote is reached which decides the 
election, there is mixed with the ballot 
papers a traditional mixture which 
darkens the smoke issuing forth from 



the chimney. This darkening of the 
color of the smoke announces to the 
world that a new Pope has been chosen. 
Great crowds usually assemble await- 
ing the verdict. 

These rules of procedure obtain at 
the present time for facilitating the 
choice of a worthy occupant of the 
chair of Peter. It is obvious, however, 
that they do not minimize the action 
of God. They are only the dictates 
of human prudence, as gathered 
through long centuries of experience. 
Not to them, not to any device of men 
does the Church trust. Her confidence 
is in the divine direction of her Spouse, 
the Holy Spirit. 

List of Popes from St. Peter to 
Pius XI. 

1 St. Peter, d. 67. 2 St. Linus, 67- 
79. 3 St. Anacletus 1, 79-90. 4 St. 
Clement 1, 90-99. 5 St. Evaristus, 99- 
107. 6 St. Alexander 1, 107-16. 7 
St. Sixtus (Xystus) 1, 116-25. 8 St. 
Telesphorus, 125-36. 9 St. Hyginus, 
136-40. 10 St. Pius, 140-54. 11 St. 
Anicetus, 154-65. 12 St. Soter, 165-74. 
13 St. Eleutherius, 174-89. 14 St. 
Victor, 189-98. 15 St. Zephyrinus, 198- 
217. 16 St. Callistus 1, 217-22. 17 
St. Urban 1, 222-30. 18 St. Pontian, 
230-35. 19 St. Anterus, 235-36. 20 
St. Fabian, 236-50. 

21 St. Cornelius, 251-53. 22 St. 
Lucius 1, 253-54. 23 St. Stephen 1, 
254-57. 24 St. Sixtus (Xystus) II, 257- 
58. 25 St. Dionysius, 259-68. 26 St. 
Felix 1,269-74. 27 St. Eutychian, 275- 
83. 28 St. Caius, 283-96. 29 St. Mar- 
cellinus, 296-304. 30 St. Marcellus I, 
308-09. 31 St. Eusebius, 309 (310). 



CHURCH HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT. 27 



32 St. Melchiades (Miltiades), 311-14. 

33 St. Sylvester I. 314-35. 34 St. 
Marcus, 336. 35 St. Julius, 337-52. 
36 St. Liberius, 352-66. *Felix II, 355- 
65. 37 Damasus I, 366-84. 38 St. 
Siricius, 384-98. 39 St. Auastasius I, 
398-401. 40 St. Innocent I, 402-17. 

41 St. Zosimus, 417-18. 42 St. Boni- 
face I, 418-22. 43 St. Celestine I. 422- 
32. 44 St. Sixtus (Xystus) III, 432- 
40. 45 St. Leo I, 440-61. 46 St. 
Hilarius, 461-68. 47 St. Simplicius, 
468-83. 48 St. Felix III, 483-92. 49 
St. Gelasius I, 492-96. 50 St. Anastas- 
ius II, 496-98. 51 St. Symmachus, 498- 
514. 52 St. Hormisdas, 514-23. 53 
St. John I, 523-26. 54 St. Felix III 
(IV), 526-30. 55 Boniface II, 530-32. 
56 John II. 533-35. 57 St. Agapetus I, 
535-36. 58 St. Silverius, 536-38 (?). 
59 Vigilius, 538 ( ?)-55. 60 Pelagius I, 
556-61. 

61 John III, 561-74. 62 Benedict I, 
575-79. 63 Pelagius II, 579-90. 64 
St. Gregory I, 590-604. 65 Sabinianus, 
604-06. 66 Boniface III, 607. 67 St. 
Boniface IV, 608-15. 68 St. Deusdedit, 
615-18 69 Boniface V, 619-25. 70 
Honorius I, 625-38. 71 Severinus, 638- 
40. 72 John IV, 640-42. 73 Theodore 
I, 642-49. 74 St. Martin I, 649-55. 75 
Eugene I, 654-57. 76 St. Vitalian, 657- 
72. 77 Adeodatus, 672-76. 78 Donus, 
676-78. 79 St. Agatho, 678-81. 80 St. 
Leo II, 682-83. 

81 St. Benedict II, 684-85. 82 John 
V, 685-86. 83 Conon, 686-87. 84 St. 
Sergius I, 687-701. 85 John VI, 701- 
05. 86 John VII, 705-07. 87 Sisinnius, 



*Pope during the exile of Liberius. 
tDied before his consecration. 



708. 88 Constantine, 708-15. 89 St. 
Gregory II, 715-31. 90 St. Gregory 
III, 731-41. 91 St. Zacharias, 741-52. 
t Stephen (II), 752. 92 Stephen III, 
752-57. 93 St. Paul I, 757-67. 94 
Stephen IV, 768-72. 95 Adrian I, 772- 
95. 96 St. Leo III, 795-816. 97 
Stephen IV (V), 816-17. 98 St. Paschal 

I, 817-24. 99 Eugene II, 824-27. 100 
Valentine, 827. 

101 Gregory IV, 827-44. 102 Sergius 

II, 844-47. 103 St. Leo IV, 847-55. 104 
Benedict III, 855-58. 105 St. Nicholas 

I, 858-67. 106 Adrian II, 867-72. 107 
John VIII, 872-82. 108 Marinus I 
( Martin II), 882-84. 109 Adrian III, 
884-85. 110 Stephen V (VI), 885-91. 
Ill Formosus, 891-96. 112 Boniface 
VI, 896. 113 Stephen VI (VII), 896- 
97. 114 Romanus, 897. 115 Theodore 

II, 897. 116 John IX, 898-900. 117 
Benedict IV, 900-03. 118 Leo V, 903. 
119 Christopher, 903-04. 120 Sergius 

III, 911-13. 

121 Anastasius III, 911-13. 122 
Lando, 913-14. 123 John X, 914-28. 
124 Leo VI, 928. 125 Stephen VII 
(VIII), 928-31. 126 John XI, 931-36. 
127 Leo VII, 936-39. 128 Stephen 
VIII (IX), 939-42. 129 Marinus II 
(Martin III) , 942-46. 130 Agapetus II, 
946-55. 131 John XII, 955-64. 132 
Leo VIII, 963-65. 133 Benedict V, 964. 
134 John XIII, 965-72. 135 Benedict 

VI, 973-74. 136 Benedict VII, 974-83. 
137 John XIV 983-84. 138 Boniface 

VII, 984-85. 139 John XV, 985-96. 140 
Gregory V, 996-99. 

141 Silvester II, 999-1003. 142 John 
XVII, 1003. 143 John XVIII, 1003- 
09. 144 Sergius IV, 1009-12. 145 
Benedict VIII, 1012-24. 146 John 



28 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



XIX, 1024-32. 147 Benedict IX (a), 
1032-45. 148 Gregory VI, 1045-46. 
149 Clement II, 1046-47. 150 Damasus 

II, 1048. 151 St. Leo IX, 1049-54. 
152 Victor II, 1055-57. 153 Stephen 
IX (X), 1057-58. 154 Benedict X, 
1058-59. 155 Nicholas II, 1059-61. 156 
Alexander II, 1061-73. 157 St. Gregory 
VII, 22 Apr., 1073-25 May, 1085. 158 
Victor III, 9 May, 1087-16 Sept., 1087. 
159 Urban II, 2 March, 1088-99 July, 
1099. 160 Paschal II, 13 Aug., 1099- 
21 Jan., 1118. 

161 Gelasius II, 24 Jan., 1118-28 
Jan., 1119. 162 Callistus II, 2 Feb., 
1119-13 Dec, 1124. 163 Honorius II, 
15 Dec, 1124 13 Feb., 1130. 164 In- 
nocent II, 14 Feb., 1130-24 Sept., 1143. 
165 Celestine II, 26 Sept., 1143 8 
March, 1144. 166 Lucius II, 12 March, 
1144 (cons.)-15 Feb., 1145. 167 Eugene 

III, 15 Feb., 1145-8 July 1153. 168 
Anastasius IV, 12 July, 1153 (cons.)- 
3 Dec, 1154. 169 Adrian IV, 4 Dec, 
1154-1 Sept., 1159. 170 Alexander III, 
7 Sept., 1159-30 Aug., 1181. 171 
Lucius III, 1 Sept., 1181-25 Nov., 1185. 
172 Urban III, 25 Nov., 1185-20 Oct., 
1187. 173 Gregory VIII, 21 Oct.-17 
Dec, 1187. 174 Clement III, 19 Dec, 
1187-March, 1191. 175 Celestine III, 
30 March, 1191-8 Jan., 1198. 176 In- 
nocent III, 8 Jan ., 1198-16 July, 1216. 
177 Honorius III, 18 July, 1216-18 
March, 1227. 178 Gregory IX, 19 
March, 1227-22 Aug., 1241. 180 In- 
nocent IV, 25 June, 1243-7 Dec, 1254. 

181 Alexander IV, 12 Dec, 1254-25 
May, 1261. 182 Urban IV, 29 Aug., 
1261-2 Oct., 1264. 183 Clement IV, 5 
Feb., 1265-29 Nov., 1268. 184 St. 
Gregory X, 1 Sept., 1271-10 Jan., 1276. 



185 Innocent V, 21 Jan.-22 June, 1276, 

186 Adrian V, 11 July-18 Aug., 1276. 

187 John XXI, 8 Sept., 1276-20 May, 
1277. 188 Nicholas III, 25 Nov., 1277- 
22Aug. ; 1280. 189 Martin IV, 25 Feb., 
1281-28 March, 1285. 190 Honorius 
IV, 2 Apr., 1285-3 Apr., 1287. 191 
Nicholas IV, 22 Feb., 1288-4 Apr., 
1292. 192 St. Celestine V, 5 July-13 
Dec, 1294. 193 Boniface VIII, 24 Dec, 
1294-11 Oct., 1303. 194 Benedict XI, 
22 Oct., 1303-7 July, 1304. 195 Clem- 
ent V, 5 June, 1305-20 Apr., 1314. 
196 John XXII, 7 Aug., 1316-4 Dec, 
1334. 197 Benedict XII, 20 Dec, 1334- 
25 Apr., 1342. 198 Clement VI, 7 May, 
1342-6 Dec, 1352. 199 Innocent VI, 

18 Dec, 1352-12 Sept., 1362. 200 
Urban V, 6 Nov., 1362 (cons.) -19 Dec, 
1370. 

201 Gregory XI, 30 Dec, 1370-27 
March, 1378. 202 Urban VI, 8 Apr., 
1378-15 Oct., 1389. 203 Boniface IX, 
2 Nov., 1389-1 Oct., 1404. 204 Inno- 
cent VII, 17 Oct., 1404-6 Nov., 1406. 
205 Gregory XII, 30 Nov., 1406-4 
July, 1415. 206 Alexander V, 26 June, 
1409-3 May, 1410. 207 John XXIII, 
17 May, 1410-29 May, 1415. 208 
Martin V, 11 Nov., 1417-20 Feb., 1431. 
209 Eugene IV, 3 March, 1431-23 Feb., 
1447. 210 Nicholas V, 6 March, 1447- 
24 March, 1455. 211 Callistus III, 8 
Apr., 1455-6 Aug., 1458. 212 Pius II, 

19 Aug., 1458-15 Aug., 1464. 213 Paul 
II, 31 Aug., 1464-26 July, 1471. 214 
Sixtus IV, 9 Aug., 1471-12 Aug., 1484. 
215 Innocent VIII, 29 Aug., 1484-25 
July, 1492. 216 Alexander VI, 11 
Aug., 1492-18Aug., 1503. 217 Pius III, 
22 Sept.-18 Oct., 1503. 218 Julius II, 
1 Nov., 1503-21 Feb., 1513. 219 Leo 



CHURCH HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT. 29 



X, 11 March, 1513-1 Dec, 1521. 220 
Adrian VI, 9 Jan., 1522-14 Sept., 1523. 

221 Clement VII, 19 Nov., 1523-25 
Sept. 1534. 222 Paul III, 13 Oct., 
1534 -10 Nov., 1549. 223 Julius III, 8 
Feb., 1550-23 March, 1555. 224 Mar- 
eellus II, 9-30 Apr., 1555. 225 Paul 
IV, 23 May, 1555-18 Aug., 1559. 226 
Pius IV, 25 Dec, 1559-9 Dec, 1565. 
227 St. Pius V, 7 Jan., 1566-1 May, 
1572. 228 Gregory XIII, 13 May, 
1572-10 Apr., 1585. 229 Sixtus V, 24 
Apr., 1585-27 Aug., 1590. 230 Urban 

VII, 15-27 Sept., 1590. 231 Gregory 
XIV, 5 Dec, 1590-15 Oct., 1591. 232 
Innocent IX, 29 Oct.-30 Dec, 1591. 
233 Clement VIII, 30 Jan., 1592-5 
March, 1605. 234 Leo XI, 1-27 Apr., 
1605. 235 Paul V, 16, May 1605-28 
Jan., 1621. 236 Gregory XV, 9 Feb., 
1621,8 July, 1623. 237 Urban VII, 6 
Aug., 1623-29 July, 1644. 238 Innocent 
X, 15 Sept., 1644-7 Jan., 1655. 239 
Alexander VII, 7 Apr., 1655-22 May, 
1667. 240 Clement IX, 20 June, 1667- 
9 Dec, 1669. 

241 Clement X, 29 Apr., 1670-22 
July, 1676. 242 Innocent XI, 21 Sept., 
1676- 11 Aug., 1689. 243 Alexander 

VIII, 6 Oct., 1689-1 Feb., 1691. 244 
Innocent XII, 12 July, 1691-27 Sept., 
1700. 245 Clement XI, 23 Nov., 1700- 
19 March 1721. 246 Innocent XIII, 
8 May, 1721-7 March, 1724. 247 Bene- 
dict XIII, 29 May, 1724-21 Feb., 1730. 
248 Clement XII, 12 July, 1730-6 Feb., 
1740. 249 Benedict XIV, 17 Aug., 
1740-3 May 1758. 250 Clement XIII, 
6 July, 1758-2 Feb., 1769. 251 Clement 
XIV-19 May 1769-22 Sept., 17-1774 
252 Pius VI, 15 Feb., 1775-29 Aug., 
1799. 253 Pius VII, 14 March, 1800- 



20 Aug., 1823. 254 Leo XII, 28 Sept., 
1823-10 Feb., 1829. 255 Pius VIII, 31 
March, 1829- 30 Nov., 1830. 256 Greg- 
ory XVI, 2 Feb., 1831-1 June, 1846. 
257 Pius IX, 16 June, 1846-7 Feb., 
1878. 258 Leo XIII, 20 Feb., 1878-20 
July, 1903. 259 Pius X, 4 Aug., 1903- 
19 Aug., 1914. 260 Benedict XV, 3 
Sept., 1914. 261 Pius XI, 12 Feb., 
1922. 

The Vatican and St. Peter's. 

The word Vatican refers to a collec- 
tion of buildings on one of the seven 
hills of Rome, which cover a space of 
1,200 feet in length, and 1,000 feet 
in breadth. It is built on the spot 
once occupied by the gardens of 
Nero. It owes its origin to the Popes, 
who, in the early part of the sixth 
century, erected an humble residence 
on its site. About the year 1150 Pope 
Eugenius rebuilt it on a magnificent 
scale. Innocent II, a few years after- 
wards, gave it up as a lodging to 
Peter II, King of Arragon. In 1367, 
the Vatican was put into a state of 
repair, and again enlarged; and it 
was thenceforth considered as the reg- 
ular palace and residence of the Popes, 
who one after another added fresh 
buildings to it, and gradually en- 
riched it with antiquities, statues, 
and books, until it became the rich- 
est repository in the world. The li- 
brary of the Vatican was commenced 
fourteen hundred years ago. It con- 
tains 40,000 manuscripts, among which 
are some by Pliny, St. Charles Bor- 
romeo, and many Hebrew, Syriac, 
Arabian and Armenian Bibles. The 
whole immense buildings composing 



30 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



the Vatican are filled with statues, 
found beneath the ruins of ancient 
Rome, with paintings by the masters, 
and with curious medals and antiqui- 
ties of almost every description. 
When it is known that there have 
been exhumed more than 70,000 stat- 
ues from the ruined temples and pal- 
aces of Rome, the reader can form 
some idea of the riches of the Vati- 
can. The Vatican will ever be held 
in veneration by the student, the art- 
ist, and the scholar. 

It was on the Vatican Hill that St. 
Peter died, and the ground that had 
drunk in his blood was afterwards 
made the site of a Church, dedicated 
to his honor. On the Ostian-road, 
near to the hill, St. Paul was martyred. 
And when the churches dedicated to 
their memories were falling into de- 
cay, the great Church of St. Peter's 
was commenced, under Julius II, 1506. 
But it was not finished for 120 years, 
and in 1626 it was solemnly dedicat- 
ed by Urban VIII. This Church of 
St. Peter's at Rome is by far the most 
magnificent in the whole world and 
well worthy of being the Cathedral 
Church of the Sovereign Pontiff. In 
a sumptuous vault, beneath a mag- 
nificent altar, repose the relics of the 
Holy Apostles, SS. Peter and Paul. 

St. Peter's of Today. 

The building above referred to is 
the second Church of St. Peter built 
on the spot where lies the body of the 
great Apostle. The first building was 
erected under Constantine. The pres- 
ent building is 694 feet long. Its 
transepts are 451 feet wide. The 



nave is 151i/> feet high. The summit 
of the cross on the dome is 435 feet 
from the ground. The diameter of 
the dome is 138 feet. The whole 
building occupies an area of 163,182 
feet. 

The Vatican Prisoner. 

The Pope refuses to leave the Vati- 
can grounds as a protest against the 
seizure of the Papal States by the 
Italian government. This theft of 
Papal territory occurred in 1871, and 
Pius IX declared then that he would 
never recognize as lawful the claims 
of the Italian government, and as a 
protest against its conduct he would 
always remain a prisoner within the 
Vatican. His resolution was kept rig- 
orously. His successors, Leo XIII, 
Pius X and Benedict XV, have fol- 
lowed his practise. The Italian gov- 
ernment on several occasions has at- 
tempted to persuade the Holy Father 
to abandon this practise and to travel 
about freely, but the Pontiffs, recog- 
nizing that this would be a virtual 
sanction of the government's seizure, 
refuse to do so. 

The Bishops at Rome; Visit Ad 
Limina. 

At different times we hear of a 
Bishop going to Rome for a visit. 
Leaving aside the times when other 
business may call one of our present 
day Apostles to the seat of Church 
government, there is one occasion 
which is of interest, because of its 
origin and antiquity. Regularly the 
Bishops of the Catholic Church make 
visits to Rome, "Ad Limina," by force 
of a very ancient custom. 



CHURCH HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT. 31 



The gospel of St. Luke tells how 
the Apostles, whom Christ had sent 
forth to preach and teach, came back 
and told the Master what things they 
had done: "And the Apostles, when 
they had returned, told Him all they 
had done" (St. Luke ix., 10). This 
was the way when Christ counted His 
followers only a few hundred ; and so 
it is today when His 300,000,000 chil- 
dren cover the face of the globe. 

A Bishop's visit "Ad Limina" 
brings with it the obligation of per- 
forming certain devotions and of giv- 
ing an account to the proper authori- 
ties of the condition of his diocese. 
The first is made up of a visit to the 
tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul on the 
Ostian Way. 

The second part is concerned with 
strictly official business with the con- 
gregations which regulate affairs in 
his diocese. To one or other of these 
congregations the "relatio status," or 
official account, of his see will be 
given, telling of the number of Priests 
in his diocese, of religious of both sex- 
es, its Catholic and non-Catholic pop- 
ulation, the number of its schools and 
other educational institutions, its sem- 
inary and everything pertaining to its 
staff and students. 

In one way, the most pleasant part 
of a Bishop's official visit is his re- 
ception by the Pope, which comes last 
of all. 

The Sistine Choir. 

The most famous musical organiza- 
tion in the world is the Sistine Choir, 
a male organization which for years 
has been associated with the Vatican, 
under the direct patronage of the 



Holy Fathers. It has always been 
customary for the dignitaries of the 
Church to have private chapels and 
the one which gave its name to this 
famous choir, probably is an adapta- 
tion from the name of the builder of 
this chapel, Pope Sixtus IV. who be- 
gan its construction in 1473. It is 
renowned no less for its famous 
choir, than for its paintings, Raphael, 
Michael Angelo and other famous art- 
ists having contributed to its decora- 
tion. 

Membership in this choir has always 
been the desire of singers and compos- 
ers everywhere. Its ideal has always 
been the highest model of liturgical 
performance. The Gregorian music, 
and its development into polyphony 
in later years, have received adequate 
interpretation which sets the stand- 
ard of purity of melody and its ren- 
dition for all the world. The use of 
instruments, even of the organ, has 
ever been excluded from this choir, 
the ideal vocal style being the de- 
sired effect aimed at. Latterly, the 
falsetto voice has been excluded, boys' 
natural voices are cultivated and the 
artistic level of the choir has been 
raised to a higher degree than it has 
been attained for the last thirty or 
forty years. 

History of the Choir. 

The choir was founded by St. Syl- 
vester I, whose pontificate lasted from 
314 to 337 and its name was derived 
from Sixtus TV, who built the Capella 
Sixtina in 1477. The choir was en- 
dowed by Gregory I (the Great) the 
actual founder of choir singing, and 



32 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



in whose pontificate which lasted from 
590 to 604, the choir began to attract 
the attention of the then civilized 
world. It was not, however, until the 
pontificate of John XIX, 1024-1032. 
when the monk Guido d'Arrezo in- 
vented the Gamut and laid down the 
foundation of harmony that the choir 
began to climb to that eminence of 
perfection from which it has never 
receded. When Gregory XI returned 
to Rome after the seventy years' exile 
of the Holy See at Avignon, France, 
the old Gregorian School of Singing 
was amalgamated with the new school 
and the most eminent singers and 
composers of Europe made the Schola 
Cantorum under which title the choir 
was endowed, the central seat for the 
knowledge and cultivation of vocal 
music. The choir consists of 32 
choral chaplains, 8 bassos, 8 tenors, 
8 counter-tenors, and 8 sopranos and 
contraltos. 

The Temporal Power of the Popes. 

By the Temporal Power of the 
Popes is known the claim that the 
Holy Father makes to certain estates 
over which the sovereignty of the 
Bishop of Rome has had all the force 
of centuries of sacred tradition. 

Pope Pius IX, in his Allocution of 
April 20, 1849, said: Peoples, kings 
and nations would never turn with 
free confidence and devotion to the 
Bishop of Rome if they saw him the 
subject of a Sovereign or a govern- 
ment, and did not know him to be in 
the possession of his full liberty." 

That the Holy Father, ruling as 
he does over the spiritual needs of 



millions of subjects throughout the 
world, should not himself be the sub- 
ject of any government will always 
seem reasonable and just to Ameri- 
cans, who understand the arrange- 
ment by which the President of the 
United States and the seat of the 
country 's government are entirely free 
and independent of the sovereignty of 
any state, being settled in a district 
over which the United States govern- 
ment alone exercises control. Other- 
wise there would arise a strong sus- 
picion that the acts of Congress might 
sometime yield to the influence of the 
State in whose territory the United 
States government was located. 

So, too, the Pope should be entirely 
free from any attempt at coercion or 
undue influences. The Church could 
not risk the chance that its laws would 
be disobeyed, because of even a sus- 
picion of such influence. Then, the 
Holy Father, if he were a subject, 
must render service as a citizen. The 
needs of his country must be para- 
mount. He must devote his talents, 
time and energy to his country's serv- 
ice when called upon. He must fur- 
ther its interests in the event of clash 
with another country. Now, no one 
country is the Holy Father's. From 
the time that he ascends the Papal 
throne he ceases to belong to any 
one nation. He is the common pos- 
session of millions scattered through- 
out all the nations of the earth. If 
he cannot be the subject of any earth- 
ly power, then he must be a sover- 
eign. There is no intermediate state. 

The prerogative of temporal power 
is of course not actually necessary for 



CHURCH HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT. 33 



the being of the Church, but it is nec- 
essary for its well being. It is not 
necessary for the exercise of the 
Pope's supreme power over the 
Church, but it is necessary for its 
peaceful and independent exercise. 
Gregorovius in his History of Rome, 
Vol. 3, page 5, says: "The existence 
of the ecclesiastical Roman state was 
an essential condition of the spiritual 
independence of the Pope." Lord 
Ellenborough, in the British House 
of Commons, June 12, 1849, voiced the 
feelings of his own and of other na- 
tions, when he said, that, "It was as 
much an object of interest to us, not 
a Catholic state, as to any of the 
Catholic Powers of Europe, that the 
Pope should be in a position of in- 
dependence." 

Acquisition of Temporal Power. 

The acquisition of the temporal 
sovereignty by the Popes was not 
the result of ambitious striving, but 
the natural outcome of historical 
changes. It came unsought, as the re- 
sult of Christian transformation. It 
was never desired for itself, for the 
power confided to them by Christ was 
not of tfhis world. Nor was it ever 
claimed as absolutely indispensable. 
The possessions were free gifts for 
services rendered. 

After Constantine removed the 
seat of his empire to Byzantium in 
the year 330, less and less interest 
was taken in the affairs of central 
Italy by the government. The peo- 
ple were shamefully neglected and 
turned naturally to the Pope for as- 
sistance. In time came the Heruli, 



the Goths, the Visigoths, the Huns 
and the Lombards, threatening Rome 
with sack and ruin, and the armies 
of the empire were not there to op- 
pose them. It was the Pope who 
saved Rome, not the government far 
away at Constantinople. Leo, the 
Great, stood against Attila, the 
scourge of God and compelled him 
to retreat. Pope Leo also prevailed 
upon Genseric to withdraw from 
Rome. Pope Zachary, in the eighth 
century, saved Rome on two occa- 
sions from the Lombards. So it hap- 
pened that from the Peace of Con- 
stantine to the Crowning of Charle- 
magne the Popes were gradually re- 
leased because of services to the state 
from all subjection to any civil author- 
ity. They became the rulers of cer- 
tain states in Italy given to them by 
Pepin and Charles. How well they 
ruled in the eighth century is noted 
in Gibbons' "Decline and Fall of the 
Roman Empire." "The Romans were 
accustomed to consider the Popes as 
first magistrates or princes of the 
city. Their temporal dominion is 
now confirmed by the reverence of 
a thousand years, and their noblest 
title is the free choice of a people 
whom they had redeemed from slav- 
ery." Vol. VI, P. 151. 

The Loss of Temporal Power. 

With the entry of the Italian troops 
into Rome, in August, 1870, under 
Victor Emmanuel, the Pope ceased 
to exercise the rights of sovereignty 
over any part of the ancient Ponti- 
fical States. The Italian government 
offered the Holy Father what was 



34 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



termed an adequate substitute for 
his vanished temporal power, con- 
tained in the Law of Guarantees, 
passed May, 1871. Its provisions de- 
creed the person of the Pope as sacred 
and inviolable. There were to be no 
offenses against him, either in speech- 
es or acts of any kind. The govern- 
ment was to pay him the honors ac- 
corded him by Catholic sovereigns. 
His correspondence with the Catholic 
world was to be free of interference. 
Catholic institutions in Rome were 
not to be interfered with. Monsignor 
Prior, D. D., in a work on "The Ro- 
man Question," says of these provis- 
ions of the Law of Guarantees, that 
(1) the Law was never sanctioned 
by the Powers, (2) It has never been 
observed by the Italian government, 
(3) It contains essential defects, (4) It 
has been consistently rejected by the 
Popes. 

It is a fact that the different gov- 
ernments had previously declared 
that the question of Temporal Power 
was an international one, in which 
they were interested. They have not 
sanctioned the Law of Guarantees. 
They have been content to reserve 
judgment, and their i-ight to inter- 
vene. Some measure of support 
has been given the Pope by some of 
the Powers, noticeable in the fact, that 
with one exception, none of the Catho- 
lic powers have visited Rome since 
1870. 

The Courts of Cassation in Rome, 
Naples and Turin are on record, in 
interpretation of the Law of Guaran- 
tees, as placing the person of the Pope 
as on a level with the person of the 



King. Yet the Italian government 
has persistently refused to notice in- 
sults against the Pope, published in 
certain journals, and uttered in open 
meetings. He was called the "worst 
of rogues ' ' ; yet there was no action 
from the government. The Civilta 
Cattolica, March 1, 1907, bitterly la- 
mented the outrages committed against 
the Holy Father by the anti-religious 
and immoral press of Rome. Shame- 
less and obscene caricatures were 
flaunted everywhere, and everything 
possible was done to excite the hatred 
and contempt of the populace against 
him. The law was publicly and repeat- 
edly trodden under foot. Only the 
protecting walls of the Vatican have 
saved him from personal injury. Prop- 
erty of the congregations of the 
Church has been confiscated by the 
government. Convents and religious 
houses have been suppressed, their in- 
mates turned adrift. Priests have 
been made subject to military duties. 

Really a better spirit prevails at 
the present writing, due perhaps to 
Catholic assistance in the Great War, 
especially in the counsels of the Ital- 
ian ministry. The above is mentioned 
merely to illustrate the grave in- 
stances in which they have violated 
their own law, claimed by them to be 
an adequate substitute to the Holy 
Father for the confiscation of the 
Papal States. 

Arbitration and the Popes. 

The great war in Europe in the 
early part of the twentieth century 
gave rise to some talk, mostly anti- 
Catholic newspaper comment, as to 



CHURCH HISTORY AND GOVERNMENT. 35 



the power of the Church in controll- 
ing nations supposed to be entirely 
Catholic. As a matter of fact, the na- 
tions involved were not Catholic. 
Great Britain cannot be so considered, 
France has forfeited any such claim 
by its iniquitous persecutions and 
confiscation of Church property, Ger- 
many is not a Catholic country and 
the Balkan nations have been too fre- 
quently involved in war to come even 
slightly under the influence of the 
Church. Austria and Italy may be 
considered as Catholic countries, and 
Austria alone was Catholic in gov- 
ernment. Any reasonable being will 
understand that the Church cannot 
always prevent the outbreak of hos- 
tilities caused by various influences 
attributed to the greed, avarice and 
ambitions of so called Christian peo- 
ple. But students of history under- 
stand that the Church was just as 
actively engaged in working towards 
a peaceful settlement of the Euro- 
pean differences of our time as at 
any other period. The Head of the 
Catholic Church has ever been active 
in advocating pacificism and the prin- 
ciple of arbitration in the settlement 
of difficulties. More than that, the 
Pope has been especially prominent 
in such proceedings ever since the 
days of early Christianity. The editor 
of Rome, an Italian semi-official peri- 
odical, points out several occasions, 
notably the arbitration between Spain 
and Portugal regarding American pos- 
sessions, and on the subject of the 
Caroline Islands entrusted to Leo XIII 
by Bismarck. 



Concordats. 

A concordat is an agreement be- 
tween the Holy See and some secular 
government, between Church and 
State, for the regulation and practice 
of religion in that State. From time 
to time the Church has found it to 
be necessary for practical purposes 
to have an understanding with the 
State regarding the exercise of re- 
ligion. The Church has been consti- 
tuted to work for the salvation of 
souls. To her, Almighty God who 
gave this mission, has entrusted pow- 
ers in proportion to the duty im- 
posed. The State, too, has its mis- 
sion and its corresponding faculties, 
but, as in the human person, there is 
contention of the lower nature against 
the higher, so in that system where 
social and religious elements enter, the 
forces that make for this world array 
themselves against the spiritual. 

One of the most famous concordats 
was that between Pius VII and Na- 
poleon Bonaparte. France had be- 
come the prey of the irreligious. Na- 
poleon was wise enough to compre- 
hend the necessity of religious influ- 
ence to control a people. And the 
Pope understood that the best prac- 
tical results, for that time at least, 
were obtainable by agreement with 
the Emperor. The Church had been 
robbed, persecuted, and doomed to 
death, but after its dolirium, France 
in a return to reason invoked the aid 
of the Church as necessary to its own 
preservation. This concordat was in 
a measure to repair the thievings of 
the Revolution by according salaries 
( ?) to the Bishops and Priests. 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



36 

Other famous concordats : That of 
Worms, in 1122, between Pope Calix- 
tus II and the Emperor Henry V ; that 
of Frankfort or Vienna (1446-8) called 
the concordat of the German Nation; 



that of 1515, between Leo X and Fran- 
cis I. Later times there have been 
concordats with Russia, in 1847 ; with 
the Republic of Costa Rica, in 1852, 
with Austria in 1855. 



Bibliography 

For a double purpose, acknowledgement of authors whose 
brilliant minds have inspired the foregoing chapter and to suggest 
more extensive and thorough reading for those interested, we 
have pleasure in acknowledging merit in the following works on 
the subjects treated. 

Holy Bible; Businger's History of the Catholic Church; 
Josephs Historian of the Jews; Parson's church Hitsory; Fouard's 
Life of Christ; Monks of the West, Montalambert; Poland's 
Sovereignty of Rome; Bishop Vaughan's Purpose of the Papacy; 
Father Martin's Roman Curie; Gugginberger, History of Christian 
Era; Spauldings, History of Protestant Reformation; Mayrick's 
Lives of the Early Popes; Beginnings of the Church, Fouard; 
Christian Authropology, Thein; Catholic Encyclopedia; Genius of 
Christianity, Chakeaubreand. 



CHAPTER II 

The Church in America. 

Discovery — The First Mass — Our First Priest — Spanish Missionary Influence 
— First Bishops and Dioceses — The Acadians — Irish Men in America — German- 
Americans — Southern Europe and the Poles — Other Channels — Faith and Popu- 
lar Government — Catholic Republics — Exercise of Religion — Catholic Population 
Increase — Churches and Their Support — Early Catholic Activities — Pioneer Priests 
and Laymen — Catholics in the Revolution — Indian Converts in Defense — Father 
Gibault — Civil War Heroes — Sisters on American Battlefields — Chaplains in Our 
Army and Navy — Chaplain Service During the War — The Chaplains' Aid Society — 
The National Catholic War Council — Special Activities — Men's Work — Women's Aid — 
Historical Records — The National Catholic Welfare Council — Officers — Men and 
Women Branches — K. of C. War Work — Finances — Overseas Personnel — Religions 
in the Army and Navy — Catholics Active at Home — Church in South America — 
The Church in Mexico — Mexican Persecution — Education in Mexico — The Church 
in Canada — French Influence — The English Acquisition — Later Progress — Work 
of the Missionaries — Growth of the Church — Catholic Rights — Catholic Laymen 
Prominent — Present Day Statistics— Number of Priests — Parish Schools — Population 
by States — Population in Large Cities — Mission Activities — Catholic Church Exten- 
sion Society — Papal Approval — Special Features — Extension Magazine — Order of 
Martha — Church Goods — Masses — Chapel Cars — Work Accomplished — Propagation of 
the Faith in America and Abroad — Catholic Colonization Society — Indian and Negro 
Missions — Mission Field Summary. 

Among the great religious enter- 
prises which call for place on the pages 
of history, the discovery of America 
must receive prominent position. The 
story of Christopher Columbus is well 
known. It is recalled, that after so 
many fruitless efforts, aid came to him, 
when he least expected it, from Father 
Juan Perez, the prior of La Rabida 
Monastery, to whom he had applied for 
shelter in his extremity. It was Father 
Perez who took up his cause, pleading 
it so effectively to Queen Isabella of 
Spain, that she sent for Columbus, and, 
after hearing his story, pledged her 



jewels to supply funds for the expedi- 
tion. 

The motive which prompted all the 
participants in the early stages of the 
discovery, Columbus the navigator, 
Father Perez, the Franciscan monk, 
and Isabella the Catholic, was the same, 
namely a sincere desire to carry to un- 
known lands and peoples the message 
of Christ crucified. Theirs was the 
inspiration which brought the light of 
faith to the new world. 

The First Mass. 

On the island of Haiti, the first 
Mass was celebrated in all America, 
in 1493. The priest who said the Mass 



38 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



was Juan Perez, friend and counselor 
of Columbus. On the second journey 
the priest accompanied his now famous 
and powerful friend. They landed on 
the island of Hispaniola, or Haiti. At 
Point Conception we are told that 
Father Perez built of boughs and 
thatched with straw the first chapel in 
the new world, and "there on the 
feast of the Immaculate Conception, 
December 8th, offered up the first Holy 
Sacrifice of the Mass and in the name of 
Jesus Christ blessed the land in whose 
discovery he had taken so conspicuous 
a part." 

In 1520, Don Luis Diaz, a priest in 
the conquering armies of Cortez, said 
Mass among the Tlaxcallons in Mexico. 
Many converts were made from the 
conquered race. In the church of the 
Sanctuary, Mexico, a stone still marks 
the spot where the Baptisms of Cortez ' 
chaplain priests took place. The first 
pulpit used in America is there. 

One of the men who accompanied 
Columbus in his second voyage, had 
brought back with him to Spain, an 
Indian boy whom he left with his son, 
Bartolome de Las Casas. The plight 
of the Indian youth, practically a 
slave in a strange land, touched the 
heart of Las Casas, who afterwards 
became a priest, accepting as his life's 
mission the work among the Indians 
in the New "World. 

Our First Priest. 

Bartolome de Las Casas, born 1474, 
died 1566, was the first priest to be 
ordained in America, about 1510. 

Some of the early Spanish colonists 
tried to ignore the rights of the abori- 
gines and to enslave them. Against 



this Las Casas protested. He had with 
him the Crown as well as the best and 
most influential people of Spain. He 
became an apostle in their behalf. His 
biographers tell us that he always main- 
tained that the system of slavery was 
wrong. 

The work of Las Casas to prevent 
the enslavement of the Indian, was a 
hard fight which was crowned with 
victory when in 1537 Pope Paul III 
issued his edict forbidding slavery. 

Not only was he the most command- 
ingly benevolent figure of the Spanish 
Conquest; he is one of the most com- 
manding figures in the history of this 
continent. 

Early Priests. 

Missionaries were very soon to follow 
in the wake of the ships of Columbus. 
In a short time they traveled through- 
out the whole northern continent. The 
story of their fortitude and zeal is the 
story of all martyrs in the Church, 
personified in the lives of earnest 
priests on American missions. Dangers, 
privations, discouragements had no 
place in the plans of these devoted men. 
The fearless soldiers of the Cross kept 
on continuing unceasingly in their 
work of conversion. American history 
pages are enlivened with the life-story 
of so many of these energetic men, lives 
of self-sacrifice and achievement. 

To bring the message of the Faith 
was but one of the results of the dis- 
covery. The red men, the recipients 
of the message, must first be raised to 
the height of proper understanding. 
Education and schools were therefore 
an early consideration. Then, too, the 
new world offered an asylum to all. 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA. 



39 



who in other countries were suffering 
for their adherence to the Faith. 
Among the first to seek this relief from 
oppression in the new world were the 
English Catholic colonists who came 
under the leadership of Lord Balti- 
more. 

This colony's influence was notice- 
able for many years. The civil and 
religious liberty which they sought in 
thus departing from the land of their 
birth , they cheerfully accorded to 
others of different belief who came 
later. Perfect equality among all 
Christian denominations reigned, until 
the control of affairs was wrested from 
them in later years. Nevertheless they 
remained the most influential body of 
Catholics in the United States until 
the great tide of immigration set in 
many years later. 

The first Mass in the United States 
is claimed for the Rev. Andrew White, 
S. J., celebrant, who on March 25th, 
1634, offered the Holy Sacrifice on St. 
Clements 's Island in the Potomac, col- 
ony of Maryland. 

Spanish Missionary Influence. 

The country which assisted Colum- 
bus in his great work naturally be- 
came prominent in the colonization of 
later years. For the most part this 
was confined to territory beyond the 
present limits of the United States, at 
least in the early period. Later, the 
south and particularly the south-west, 
knew to its great advantage the zeal 
of Spaniards who were with Cortez' 
conquering armies as early as 1520, not 
alone in colonization work, but also in 
the education of the Indians along 
practical lines of activity. Theirs were 



establishments modeled upon the mon- 
asteries of Europe, where instruction 
in trades was given. Around the walls 
of their missions grew up villages of 
natives who regularly received this in- 
struction, which in time developed them 
into self-supporting people, who tilled 
the land, made pottery and utensils 
of various kind, and in general adapted 
to their betterment the practical work 
of the monks. Tourists of today marvel 
at the relics of institutions which still 
display the methods of the pioneers, 
and still prove the degree of civiliza- 
tion to which the Spanish missionaries 
had raised their people, before wars 
and international troubles interfered 
with and finally destroyed their labors. 
First Bishops and Dioceses. 

In 1913 Porto Rico celebrated the 
four hundredth anniversary of its crea- 
tion as a Diocese. Yet near the present 
city of San Domingo was established 
the Diocese of Yaguata in 1504. Two 
others were created about the same time 
but none of the last three were ever 
occupied by the Bishops in far off 
Europe named for them. Porto Rico 
combined them later, hence the his- 
toric celebration. 

Apparently the first Bishop actually 
in America was Bishop Manso of San 
Juan. Bishop Deja of Conception ar- 
rived about the same date, however. 
The first archbishop was D'Alonso de 
Fuenmayer, who became Metropolitan 
of Cuba, Porto Rico and Santo Marta 
in 1548. 

The first diocese on the mainland of 
America was that of Santa Marie de li 
Antigna near the present boundry be- 
tween Panama and Columbia, erected 



40 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



1513. The Bishop arrived in 1514. 
The diocese is now called Old Panama. 
Balboa, the famous explorer, attended 
Mass in the cathedral of this diocese. 
Bishop Garcese in 1527 took possession 
of a diocese in Tlascala, Mexico, cre- 
ated in 1519. The first bishop of 
Mexico, Fray Juan Zumarraga ar- 
rived a few months later. In 1546 all 
these Mexican dioceses were separated 
from Seville, Spain. Mexico became a 
Metropolitan See in 1547. 

The year 1537 saw the first con- 
secration of a biship in America, in 
the person of D 'Francisco Marroquin, 
bishop-elect of Guatamala, consecrated 
by Bishop Zumarraga. Lima, capital 
of Peru, was made an Archbishopric 
in 1546. 

Havana, Cuba, was made a Bish- 
opric in 1787, although Santiago de 
Cuba had a Bishop in 1522. Balti- 
more became a Bishopric in 1789," 
antedated by Quebec, Canada founded 
in 1670 with Bishop Laval. New York, 
Philadelphia, Boston and Bardstown 
were founded in 1808. Louisiana came 
in 1815. Kingston, Montreal, New 
Brunswick and North-west Canada had 
Bishops around 1820. Richmond and 
Charleston, Va. in the same year, St. 
Louis in 1827, Detroit 1833, Vincennes 
1834, Nashville 1838, Dubuque 1837, 
Chicago 1843. 

A. H. Solis in Eceles. Review, April 
1913. Memoirs of Father Mazzuchelli, 
O. P. 

The Acadians. 

In 1775, an accession to the Church 
in the United States came through the 
expulsion by the Puritans of Massachu- 
setts of a colony of French Catholics 



from Acadia, in Canada, on the Bay 
of Fundy. In spite of the solemn 
promise of the capitulation, that the 
Acadians should not be disturbed, 
about seven thousand were driven from 
their homes and scattered throughout 
British colonies. 

These are the Acadians whose sad 
tale has been told by Longfellew in his 
poem of "Evangeline." 

The storm of the French Revolution 
drove to the shores of the United States, 
between the years of 1791 and 1799, 
a body of apostolic clergymen whose 
labors reanimated the zeal of Catholics, 
caused conversions to the faith, organ- 
ized new parishes, founded seminaries 
and colleges, and created bishoprics. 
Among them were a Marechal, a Chev- 
erus, a Brute, a Flaget, and a Dubois. 
Twenty-three French priests came at 
that period to aid the young Church 
in the United States ; six were made 
bishops, and of these Marechal became 
the third Archbishop of Baltimore. 
Cheverus was the first bishop of Boston, 
later recalled to France and made 
Archbishop of Bordeaux and Cardinal. 

To these are to be added several 
thousand Catholics, among whom were 
some hundred colored people, who came 
from San Domingo, and other West 
India islands in 1793 to escape the 
effects of the French Revolution and 
the negro insurrection. These French 
Catholics added faith, piety, wealth to 
the infant Church. Their number was 
also increased by the territories ac- 
quired or admitted to the Union. Louis- 
iana mostly French and Catholic, was 
acquired in 1803, and had at that time 
about thirty-two thousand inhabitants. 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA. 



41 



Other settlements, peopled by descend- 
ants of French Canadians at St. Louis, 
Detroit and Vincennes had grown 
since into places of importance, while 
retaining the imprint of the French 
race. 

Irishmen in America. 

The Catholics from Ireland will not 
be found in such numbers as those 
from England and France among the 
early settlers of North America. The 
Irish settlers, considerable as is their 
aggregate number, were not concen- 
trated in any one locality, like the 
Spanish, French or English. A num- 
ber of Catholic Irishmen, however, or 
their descendants took an active part 
in the struggle for independence. The 
first Commodore, the father of the 
American navy, was John Barry, born 
in Ireland, a faithful Catholic, a true 
American and an able seaman. But 
before the great exodus, Ireland had 
given to America prelates distin- 
guished for their faith, virtue, learn- 
ing, eloquence, and apostolic zeal — 
prelates such as Bishop England and 
Archbishops Kenrick and Hughes. No 
man did more in his day than Bishop 
England to make the Catholic Church 
respected. The first bishop and arch- 
bishop of the Church in the United 
States, John Carroll, and the first in 
North America to be invested with the 
dignity of the cardinalate, the Arch- 
bishop of New York, John McCloskey, 
were Irishmen by descent. Then the 
famine of 1846-47 gave the impetus to 
a mighty stream of immigration which 
did not cease in volume until it sup- 
plied millions of faithful children to 



the young Church in America and 
rapidly extended her borders. (See 
Catholics in Revolution.) 

German-Americans. 

There will not be found in the Catho- 
lic Church in the United States a 
people, as a class, more devoted, sin- 
cere, and better instructed in their 
religion, than the Germans. The num- 
ber of their churches, schools, semin- 
aries, hospitals, orphan asylums will 
compare advantageously with those of 
any other portion of the Catholic pop- 
ulation. None are better supplied with 
priests for their people and teachers 
for their children than the Germans. 
The religious orders flourish among 
them, and are represented by the Bene- 
dictines, with several abbots ; the Ca- 
puchins, and other branches of the 
order of St. Francis; the Jesuits, Re- 
^demptorists, and other religious con- 
gregations both of men and women, 
especially such as are devoted to teach- 
ing. 

Southern Europe and the Poles. 

But the great increase in Catholic 
population especially in the large cities 
in later days has been due to emigra- 
tion from Poland and southern Eu- 
rope. The Poles particularly deserve 
credit for their unusual display of de- 
votion in the erection of churches, and 
schools. Magnificent buildings stand 
as a monument to their zeal in God's 
service. No less zealous in proportion 
to their numbers are the Lithuanians, 
while the Italians are cared for by 
religious communities organised in 
Italy for the especial work of serving 
their countrymen abroad. 



42 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Faith and Popular Government. 

History testifies to the close relation- 
ship existing between popular govern- 
ments and the Catholic faith. All re- 
publics since the Christian era have 
sprung into existence under the in- 
fluence of the Church. They were all 
founded by Catholic people. The re- 
public of San Marino has existed in 
an entirely Catholic population in the 
heart of Italy one thousand years or 
more ; and that of Andorra, on the 
borders of Spain and France, has stood 
the same number of years. Both are 
properous and illustrate the principle 
that republicanism is congenial with 
the Catholic religion. Then, again, we 
have the Italian republics in Catholic 
ages, those of Venice, Pisa, Genoa, 
Milan, Florence, Padua, Bologna. In 
fact, there were no less than two hun- 
dred republics spread over the fair 
land of Italy. Venice stood one thou- 
sand years and more. The Swiss re- 
public was founded in mediaeval times, 
and counts among its heroes and 
martyrs of political liberty, Arnold 
Winkelried and William Tell, faithful 
sons of the Catholic Church. From 
this point of view it is a matter of no 
surprise that Catholics were the first 
to proclaim religious freedom among 
the colonists of what is now the United 
States of America and were also 
among the first patriots in the war for 
independence. Among the signers of 
the Declaration of Independence there 
was Charles Carroll, a sincere, and 
fervent Catholic layman. The priest 
who became the first bishop and the 
first archbishop in the hierarchy of the 
Catholic Church in the United States 



was the intimate friend of Benjamin 
Franklin, and, an associate with him. 
Washington, with his characteristic im- 
partiality, publicly acknowledged at 
the close of the war the patriotic part 
which Catholics as a class had taken in 
the great struggle for liberty. 

Exercise of Religion. 

The first amendment of the Constitu- 
tion says that "Congress shall make 
no law respecting an establishment of 
religion, or prohibiting the free exer- 
cise thereof." 

We maintain that the common aim 
of all legitimate political government 
i.s the security of man 's natural rights ; 
that the American republic is most 
distinctly founded on this common 
basis ; that the Catholic interpretation 
of Christianity emphatically sanctions 
its declaration of these rights and as 
the natural and supernatural spring 
from one and the same divine source, 
"and God cannot deny himself, nor 
one truth ever contradict another" 
(Vatican Council, De Fide et Ra- 
tione"), it follows that the Republic 
and the Catholic Church can never 
clash in their normal action, but, by 
a necessary law of their existence must 
aid each other. A Catholic citizen of 
the American Republic who under- 
stands his faith is all the more loyal 
to the Republic. The doctrines of his 
church furnish him with principles 
which enable him to become a good 
citizen. 

Early Catholic Activities. 

The very first hospital in the New 
World was founded in 1580 in Mexico 
and dedicated to St. Martin the patron 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA. 



43 



of hospitality to the afflicted and dis- 
tressed. The first settlement in New 
England was made by a Catholic and 
the first religious services there were 
conducted by a Catholic. The first con- 
verts in New England were to the Cath- 
olic faith. The first governor of New 
York was a Catholic. The initial act 
of the first legislative assembly in New 
York was the "Charter of Liberty" 
granting freedom of worship to all the 
citizens. The first religious services in 
Virginia, Florida, Alabama, Missis- 
sippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arizona, 
Kansas and Missouri were conducted 
by Catholic priests. The first record 
we have of Mass being celebrated in 
the present limits of the United States 
is in 1526, in a chapel situated on a 
spot that seventy-five years later was 
destined to become the first permanent 
English settlement at Jamestown. 

In 1828 Charles Carroll, of Carroll- 
ton, laid the cornerstone of the vast 
network of railways that today amount 
to 270,000 miles, and cement together 
in the bonds of unity our enormous 
stretch of territory and our teeming 
populations. The laying of the Atlan- 
tic cable is due to the enterprising 
foresight and genius of Bishop Mul- 
lock, 0. S. F. of St. John's New Found- 
land, who in the first half of the nine- 
teenth century publicly urged the 
feasibility of uniting the old world and 
the new by cable. The father of Amer- 
ican shorthand was a Catholic. He was 
George "Washington's private secre- 
tary, Thomas Lloyd. He was the first 
official reporter of Congress and pub- 
lished the very first number of the 
Congressional Eecord. 



The capitol of the United States, one 
of the most majestic structures on the 
American continent, stands on the site 
of the farm of Daniel Carroll, eldest 
son of Charles Carroll of Carrollton. 
The great northwest, the pride of our 
country, the vaunted granary of the 
world, with its illimitable reaches of 
fair ripening grain, is due to a Catho- 
lic. Had not Father Gibault enlisted 
the Catholic Indians on the side of the 
American colonists during the Revo- 
lution, the northern boundaries of this 
country might have been the Ohio river 
instead of the Great Lakes. Holland, 
the inventor of the submarine, which 
is at present revolutionizing naval war- 
fare, was a Catholic. The invention of 
the aeroplane was due to a Catholic 
named James Montgomery and his avi- 
ator, David Moloney. They both made 
the first long recorded flight in history 
in California, remaining in the air for 
a distance of eight miles. 

Pioneer Priests and Laymen. 

' ' Pioneer Priests of North America, ' ' 
three volumes, and "Pioneer Layman 
of North America," two volumes, are 
five of the most satisfying books that 
have ever fallen under our observation. 

In the "Pioneer Priests" series are 
told the life stories of Fathers Isaac 
Jogues, Joseph Bressini, Joseph Poncet, 
Simon Le Moyne, Claude Doblon, 
Joseph Chaumont, Paul Roguneau, 
Rene Minard, James Fremin, James 
Bruyas, John Pierron, John de Lam- 
berville, Peter Millet, Stephen de 
Carheil, Peter Roffeix, Francis Boni- 
face, James de Lamberville and Julien 
Garnier, who labored among the Iro- 
quois Indians. 



44 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Of Fathers Peter Briard, Enemond 
Masse, John de Brebeuf, Gabriel La- 
lemant, Ame de Noue, Anthony Daniel, 
Charles Lalemant, Jerome Lalemant, 
Charles Gamier, Noel Chobanel and 
Leonard Garrean, who labored among 
the Huron Indians, and Fathers Paul 
le Jeune, James Buteaux, Gabriel 
Druellettes, Charles Albanel, Claude 
Allouez, James Marquette, Francis de 
Crespieul, Anthony Sylvie, Anthony 
Dolmas, Gabriel Maret, Peter Larue, 
John AulneaU and Sebastian Kasle, 
missionaries to the Algonquin Indians. 

In the "Pioneer Laymen" series, 
Father Campbell has given us an in- 
timate account of the life and work of 
Jacques Cartier, Pedro Menendez, 
Samuel Champlain, Charles de la Tour 
Maissoneuve, Charles le Moyne, Pierre 
Esprit Eadisson, Le Moyne de Long- 
ueuil, Nicholas Perrot, Le Moyne 
d 'Iberville, Frontenac, La Salle, Le 
Moyne de Bienville, Pierre Gautier 
de Verendrye and John McLoughlin. 

A slight acquaintance with early his- 
tory will enable anyone to recognize 
amongst these the names of priests and 
laymen who played most important 
roles in the development of our coun- 
try, and all may rejoice that Father 
Campbell has undertaken and accomp- 
lished such an important task as the 
writing down of these momentous life 
records. 

Catholics in the Revolution. 

Mr. P. H. Winston (a Protestant), 
in his book "American Catholics and 
the A. P. A." pages 23-27, declares, 
"without Catholic aid the American 
colonies could never have achieved 
their independence. Catholic Ireland 



was the first to sympathize with and 
assist the struggling patriots, and this 
aid and sympathy were alleged by the 
British Court as reasons why petitions 
of Ireland for religious and political 
enfranchisements should be rejected. 
Of the soldiers of the Revolution, none 
were more illustrious that Gen. John 
Stark, the hero of Bennington ; Gen 
Richard Montgomery, who captured 
the British general and his forces at 
the Cowpers ; Commander Jere 
O'Brien, who fought in Machias Bay 
the first sea fight of the Revolution — 
the Lexington of the sea. 

"Maj. Gen. Robinson, commissioned 
for the exchange of prisoners of the 
British forces, in answer to the ques- 
tion by Edmund Burke, of what na- 
tionality was Washington's army com- 
posed?" testified before the same com- 
mittee June 8, 1779, one half Irish, 
about one-fourth natives, and the rest 
were Scotch, German and English.' 

"Ireland was not the only Catholic 
friend of the colonies in their long 
struggles for independence. Catholic 
France sent a formidable fleet and fur- 
nished 10,000 men and $3,000,000 in 
aid of the Revolution, and the names 
of Lafayette, DeGrasse and Roeham- 
beau are imperishably connected with 
it. 

"The Catholics of Canada raised, 
armed and equipped two full regiments 
that rendered invaluable aid and per- 
formed heroic service, while Catholic 
Spain threw open her home ports and 
the port of Havana to the American 
marine, and contributed 3,000 barrels 
of gunpowder, blankets for ten regi- 
ments and 1,000,000 francs for the 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA. 



45 



young republic. From Catholic Poland 
came Pulaski and Kosciusko, immortal 
names. 

"All the foreign assistance that came 
to the struggling patriots came from 
Catholics and Catholic countries, while 
at home there was not a single Catholic 
Tory, not a single Catholic that faltered 
in his allegiance to the cause of Amer- 
ican Independence. Even among the 
native Indian tribes, there were found 
Catholics to aid in the work of achiev 
ing American Independence. Orono, 
the Catholic chief of the Penobscots, 
was commisioned an officer by the Con- 
tinental Congress and with his tribe 
rendered invaluable service along the 
Canadian frontier. 

"The names of Lafayette, Kochani- 
beau, Pulaski, Kosciusko, De Kalb and 
de Grasse should silence forever the 
tongue of slander which imputes to 
their religion motives utterly at vari- 
ance with the cause which they so 
bravely and manfully upheld. No one 
at that time even whispered that Cath- 
olics entertained religious principles 
incompatible with the safety and free- 
dom of the country. Both in war and 
peace American Catholics have been 
devoted and loyal citizens of the re- 
public. ' ' 

Washington's Tribute. 

General Washington in an order 
issued by him on Nov. 5, 1775, pro- 
hibiting the non-Catholics of Boston 
from burning the Pope in effigy, says ; 
"As the commander in chief has been 
apprised of a design formed for the 
observance of that ridiculous and child- 
ish custom of burning the effigy of the 
Pope, he cannot help expressing his 



surprise that there should be officers 
and men in his army so devoid of 
common sense as not to see the impro- 
priety of such a step. It is so mon- 
strous as not to be suffered or excused ; 
indeed, instead of offering the most 
remote insult, it is our duty to address 
public thanks to our Catholic brethren, 
as to them we are indebted for very 
late success over the common enemy in 
Canada. ' ' 

Washington's high tribute to the un- 
selfish patriotism and fidelity of his 
aides (Sparks' Writings, Vol. III. pp. 
368-70), evidences his supreme con- 
fidence in those Catholics at a perilous 
time when many friends proved false. 

Converts in Defence. 

Among other important but little 
known services are those of the Catho- 
lic Indians of the Northeast, who, 
pledged fidelity to Washington and re- 
mained faithful through every vicis- 
situde, the sole reward they asked being 
a priest, "that he may pray for us." 
"Had they been against us," says 
Williamson's History of Maine, "and 
set on by the British to plunder our 
towns and settlements, the whole popu- 
lation would have been destroyed. ' ' In- 
stead, "their rigid adherence to our 
cause" left the patriots free to eo-op- 
erate with the army and navy of 
Rochambeau and de Grasse, manned 
by French and Irish Catholics, in the 
crowning triumph. 

Father Gibault. 

Catholics carried the Flag from the 
Alleghanies to the Mississippi, and 
were controlling factors in the winning 
of the West. It was Father Gibault 



46 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



and the influence he exerted on his 
French parishioners that delivered to 
Clark Kaskaskia and Vincennes. When 
half of Clark's little band of Virgin- 
ians deserted him and the British re- 
covered Vincennes, the French Creoles, 
captained by Richard McCarthy, more 
than made good the deficit. 

Clark and Patrick Henry handsome- 
ly acknowledged the invaluable aid of 
Father Gibault and his Catholic people. 

In 1790, Washington's own State of 
Virginia acknowledged Father Gi- 
bault 's services by a public resolution 
of its Legislature. The first chaplain's 
commission issued by the Continental 
Congress was given to a Catholic 
priest. ' ' 

The Virginia Assembly eulogized 
Father Gibault and his Catholic people, 
but never repaid the large moneys and 
stores they supplied to Clark when that 
body itself failed to finance him. 
Neither have Father Gibault and his 
Catholics been repaid by history, which 
■was mainly of New England make and 
little disposed to blazen Catholic ser- 
vices. 

Civil War Heroes. 

The Civil War brought to the front 
an enlistment in which Catholics more 
than held their own in point of num- 
bers. Those who distinguished them- 
selves and were honored with special 
mention on the records of history are 
in great proportion Catholics. Names 
like Sheridan, Rosecrans, Shields, 
Meagher, Mulligan, Longstreet, New- 
ton, Ewing, Kilpatrick, recall easily 
the memories of men who found it 
easy to combine good citizenship with 
faithful attention to Church duties. At 



Gettysburg, special mention is made of 
Carr, Mallon, Byrnes, Guiney, Kelly, 
Burns, Mulholland, Smyth, O'Rourke, 
O'Hara and others who distinguished 
themselves. 

And Catholic priests ministered reg- 
ularly to these thousands of army 
heroes. Not every regiment had its 
chaplain, but those in the service were 
always where there was greatest need. 
General absolution was given just be- 
fore going into battle by several chap- 
lains. Father Corby, C. S. C, did this 
at Gettysburg. Other priests in active 
service at this period were Father 
Ouellet S. J., Father Tissot, S. J., 
Father Sorin C. S. C, Father Egan, 
0. P., Father McGinnis, who had 
charge of the Church in Gettysburg, 
and other priests who were either reg- 
ularly appointed to the service or who 
served in their own particular districts. 

Sisters on American Battlefields. 

"The Ladies' Auxiliary of the An- 
cient Order of Hiberians are erecting 
near the national capital, a monument 
to those bands of holy women who 
went forth as nurses during the Ameri- 
can Civil war, and by their sublime 
heroism and devoted self sacrifice be- 
came indeed Angels of Mercy, the 
Nuns of the Battlefield. From their 
quiet convent homes they came. They 
enlisted in the cause of God and hu- 
manity. The great majority of these 
nurses of the religious orders were of 
Irish blood. Those devoted daughters of 
St. Vincent, the Sisters of Charity, 
were at Fredericksburg. Chancellor- 
ville, Antietam and Winchester. They 
came from the mother house at Em- 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA. 



47 



mittsburg, Md. From New York came 
the Mother Seton sisters of the same 
order, and large numbers of the white 
cornette sisters of Charity from Phil- 
adelphia. One of the most notable Sis- 
ters of Charity was Mother Gonzaga 
(Mary Edna Grace), who had charge 
of Satterlee hospital, Philadelphia, in 
which 50,000 sick and wounded soldiers 
were cared for during the Civil war. 
The Sisters of Mercy of New York, 
under the leadership of Mother Mary 
Augustine McKenna, went to southern 
battlefields. 

"From Chicago Mother Francis 
(Mary Mulholand of Armagh) led her 
noble band of Sisters of Mercy to 
Missouri at the call of Colonel Mulligan 
of the Irish brigade. Mother Francis, 
a woman of unusual intellectual 
strength, and her Sisters of Mercy were 
in charge of the military hospital of 
Chicago. She had the confidence of 
President Lincoln and was universally 
beloved. 

The Holy Cross Sisters from their 
mother house at Notre Dame contribu- 
ted their share in ministering to the 
sick and wounded of that great strug- 
gle. Their superioress was Mother 
Angela, in the world known as Mary 
Gillespie, a cousin of James G. Blaine, 
and a kinswoman of the Shermans and 
Ewings. Of the eighty Sisters who left 
St. Mary's (Notre Dame), seventy- 
six were Irish. They went to hospitals 
in Cairo and Mound City. The great 
military hospitals under the manage- 
ment of Mother Angela at Mound City 
was declared to be the best in the 
United States. The Sisters of St. 
Joseph from Chestnut Hill, Philadel- 



phia and from the mother-house at St. 
Louis, Mo., furnished their full quota. 

The Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, 
who numbered among their patrons the 
daughters and granddaughters of 
Henry Clay, whose alumnae included 
the Crittendens, the Breckenridges and 
Mary Anderson, went wherever duty 
called. 

"The Sisters of Charity of Mount 
St. Vincent, Cincinnati, became, indeed 
angels of the battlefield at Shiloh, Cor- 
inth, Nashville and Vicksburg, led by 
Mother Anthony O'Connell of Limer- 
ick. 

Catholic War Activities. 
Chaplains in Our Army and Navy. 

Appointments of priests as chaplains 
was placed some years ago in the hands 
of the Very Reverend A. P. Doyle, 
C. S. P., with authority from the 
Hierarchy to represent the Church. 
Father Doyle was enthusiastic in his 
work and soon aroused interest, even 
influencing President Roosevelt to the 
offer of new chaplains. The number 
(six) was not sufficient to cover the 
ground. Father 'Hern, C. S. P., kept 
up the work after the death of Father 
Doyle, and, in January, 1914, succeed- 
ed in having the Committee on Naval 
Affairs grant a hearing to the various 
churches. Secretary Daniels suggested 
a plan calling for "welfare secretar- 
ies" among the men in place of Chap- 
lains. This was vigorously opposed, 
especially by Father O'Hern backed 
by a letter from His Eminence Card- 
inal Gibbons. 

An army chaplain must be a regular- 
ly ordained minister in good standing. 



48 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



mentally and physically tried and 
tested. The age limit is forty years. 
Always is the chaplain held as a non- 
combatant. He must be with his regi- 
ment, ready and willing to live under 
discipline altogether foreign to that 
which regulates the life of a priest in 
parish work. He is in charge of the 
education of enlisted men, not as 
teacher, but as director of studies, and 
he has care of the library. The hos- 
pital and the guard-house offer wide 
possibilities for effort in reclamation, 
and restraint against the temptations 
of camp life. He gives advice, writes 
letters and directs entertainment. 
Moving picture machines, stereopti- 
cons, pianos and phonographs are fur- 
nished by the government. 

About one-third of the regular stand- 
ing army consists of Catholics, and 
scattered as they are, fifteen or twenty 
priests have much work in taking care 
of perhaps twenty-five thousand Cath- 
olics scattered over so large an area 
as the United States and her posses- 
sions. Efforts to increase the number 
of chaplains are being made. It is 
safe to say that there is no figure more 
universally respected by both fellow 
officers (for the chaplain ranks as an 
officer) and men than the straight 
soldierly, vigorous, yet kindly and 
sympathetic Catholic Priest Chaplain 
to the regiment, or the battleship. 

Chaplain Service During the War. 

With American participation in the 
great war, the forces of our country 
increased with such rapidity that the 
selection of chaplains hardly could 
keep pace. The requirements for a 



chaplain were such that only a limited 
number of priests could qualify. It 
took a little time to remedy some de- 
fects in the system, so as to permit a 
sufficient number of Chaplains to care 
for the spiritual needs of the Catholic 
boys in the service. However, the 
National Catholic War Council, an as- 
sociation of Bishops in which Bishop 
Muldoon of Bockford, Bishop Russell 
of Charleston, Bishop Schrembs of 
Toledo and Bishop Hayes, the Chap- 
lain Bishop, late Archbishop of New 
York, were prominent, with the sanc- 
tion of the Hierarchy, soon had the 
matter well in hand. Bishop Hayes 
was appointed Chaplain General of all 
the forces in the army and navy. He 
had as his Vicars-General, Right Rev. 
Monsignor Wm. Foley, St. Ambrose 
church, Chicago, and the Right Rever- 
end L. J. Kavanaugh, Our Lady of 
Lourdes Church, New Orleans. Bishop 
Hayes was assisted by Monsignor (Ma- 
jor) Waring, an Army Chaplain of 
many years experience, and Father 
(lieutenant) Dineen, as secretary. 
Father Feely, and Father Arnold, both 
Army Chaplains, acted as instructors 
at the Chaplains Training school, 
opened at Camp Taylor, Louisville, 
Kentucky, by the government, to facil- 
itate the work of developing and pre- 
paring all clergymen for the service. 
Here the priests went through a strict 
routine of military duties in the five 
weeks course outlined. At one time 
there were over one hundred priests in 
the Chaplains school. 

In the spring of 1918 legislation 
changed the chaplains' age limit to 
forty-five years. Also the number of 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA. 



49 



appointments was increased. It was 
estimated early in this year that there 
were one hundred ninety-nine Catholic 
priests in the army, four hundred six- 
ty-seven non-Catholic Chaplains. Bish- 
op Hayes made special appeal at this 
time to the Bishops throughout the 
country for Chaplains to fill the new 
quota desired, with the result that the 
number of priests in the Army at the 
signing of the Armistice was unofficial- 
ly estimated at about five hundred. 
Since August 1918, all priests in the 
service in camps in this country were 
regular regimental Chaplains, commis- 
sioned as First Lieutentants by the 
government. No other clergymen, other 
than Commissioned Chaplains, were 
permitted to hold services within the 
Camps. Previous to this time there had 
been much excellent work carried on by 
priests, known as Knights of Columbus 
Chaplains, who were supported by that 
Order, living in quarters provided for 
them in the K. of C. War work plans. 
To the end of the war these chaplains 
continued to be active and energetic 
in the work overseas, as may be estima- 
ted from the names of the priests men- 
tioned in despatches and otherwise 
honored for gallantry and unselfish 
service, many of them K. of C. Chap- 
lains. 

Monsignor James J. Connolly was 
at the head of the overseas chaplain 
forces, with offices in Paris, the repre- 
sentative of Bishop Hayes. In August, 
1918, there were fifty K. of C. chap- 
lains engaged in active service in 
France, not including the French 
priests released from military duties 
by their government to assist in chap- 



lain work, and other priests serving 
with the Red Cross in hospital service, 
or as regimental chaplains. The full 
quota of chaplains allowed us during 
the war was eleven hundred and fifty 
and eight hundred priests were actual- 
ly in the service here and abroad at 
the signing of the armistice. 

The Chaplains' Aid Society. 

An organization designed to aid the 
Priest-Chaplain in his work, which 
deserves much more than passing at- 
tention, is the Chaplain's Aid Society, 
with offices in many of the large cities. 
The Mass Kit, containing all that a 
priest needs for the celebration of Mass 
and the administration of the Sacra- 
ments, was the triumph of this organ- 
ization. A portable equipment, which 
otherwise would have cost every priest 
at least two hundred dollars, was ar- 
ranged by this Society in beautifully 
compact form, ready for travel, and 
presented free to each priest in the 
service. The extent and scope of the 
Society's work can best be learned 
from the report of one year's work, 
the first year of the war, published in 
the Chaplains Aid Bulletin for June 
1918. 

" Besides the 416 Mass outfits sup- 
plied to the chaplains, one year's work 
included the publication of a special 
"Army and Navy Prayer Book" in 
English and Italian, of an army and 
navy edition of the Reims version of 
the New Testament of which 70,000 
copies have been distributed, a War 
Missal, "Chaplain's Catechism," 
"Confession in English and French," 
"The Honor Legion," "Catholic Loy- 



50 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



alty," "The Armed Guard," "A 
Soldier Saint of Italy," "A Saint for 
Soldiers." "The Buccaneer of Christ," 
and a story called "The Cape Point 
Crew." 

Books and religious articles distribu- 
ted were as follows : prayer books (in- 
eluding those in Polish, Slovak and 
Italian), 320,000; rosaries, 121,000; 
scapulars, 196,000 ; scapular medals, 
67,000; catechisms (including Italian), 
22,000 ; hymn books and hymn cards, 
17,000; Sacred Heart badges, 17,000; 
pamphlets and tracts, 176,000 ; cruci- 
fixes, 7,000 ; religious books, 4,000. 

The number of linens supplied to 
chaplains, including many sets other 
than those in the kits, makes a total 
of 10,500. About 500 sets of vestments 
have been supplied; also ciboria, mon- 
strances, copes, Missals and Missal- 
stands, chalices, and other odd supplies 
to chaplains, including altar wines, 
sanctuary oil, palms, incense and char- 
coal, portable organs, etc. A depart- 
ment of the Association is devoted to 
the furnishing of altar-breads week- 
ly or bi-monthly, to chaplains in the 
army and navy. To date, 175,000 
breads have been sent out." 

The National Catholic War Council. 

In August 1917, a convention of the 
United States was called by Cardinal 
Gibbons of Baltimore, Cardinal Farley 
of New York, and Cardinal O'Connell 
of Boston. Its purpose was to create 
a National Catholic organization. The 
Convention met August 11-12, at the 
Catholic University of America, "Wash- 
ington, D. C, and there were present 
official delegates from sixty-eight dio- 



ceses and also representatives of twen- 
ty-seven National Catholic organiza- 
tions, and the Catholic press. The 
Convention pledged the whole re- 
sources of the Catholic body to the 
Government,. 

It was decided to create a national 
organization to study, coordinate, un- 
ify, and put in operation all Catholic 
activities incidental to the war. 

In November, 1917, the Archbishops 
of the United States constituted them- 
selves the National Catholic War Coun- 
cil, appointing as their administrative 
committee four bishops. This commit- 
tee met in January 1918, and the defi- 
nite organization of the council was de- 
cided upon. 

The National Catholic War Council 
was composed of the fourteen Arch- 
bishops of the United States. In view 
of their own archdiocesan obligations, 
and of the great distances that hinder 
frequent meeting, the archbishops ap- 
pointed as their administrative com- 
mittee, the Right Rev. Peter J. Mul- 
doon of Rockford, chairman, the Right 
Rev. Joseph Schrembs of Toledo, the 
Right Rev. Patrick J. Hayes of New 
York and the Right Rev. William T. 
Russell of Charleston. Under the arch- 
bishops this committee had the respon- 
sibility of the supreme direction of the 
War Council's works. 

The more immediate direction of the 
Council's war activities rested with 
two sub-committees, the Committee on 
Special War Activities, and the 
Knights of Columbus Committee on 
War Activities. The former Commit- 
tee whose Chairman was the Reverend 
John J. Burke, C. S. P., had head- 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA. 



51 



quarters in Washington, D. C. The 
K. of C. Committee, whose Chairman 
was Mr. William J. Mulligan of New 
York City, had offices in Washington, 
New Haven and New York. Later an 
office was opened in St. Louis, under 
Mr. Moriarty. The K. of C. activities 
are treated at length elsewhere in this 
volume. 

Special War Activities. 

The Committee in charge of Special 
War activities operated seven national 
standing committees; Finance, Chair- 
man John J. Agar; Men's Activities, 
Chairman Chas. I. Denechaud; Wo- 
men's Activities, Rev. Wm. J. Kerby, 
Ph. D.; National Chaplains Aid As- 
sociation ; Catholic Interests, Chairman 
Right Rev. Monsignor E. A. Kelly, LL. 
D. ; Reconstruction and After War 
Activities, Chairman Rt. Rev. Monsig- 
nor M. J. Splaine, D. D. ; Historical 
Records, Chairman Rt. Rev. Monsignor 
H. T. Drumgoole, LL. D. 

Men's Activities. 

The Men's Activities Committee or- 
ganized to assist the K. of C. in every 
possible way. All men's societies 
throughout the country were listed, and 
splendid was the co-operation received 
from them. Service clubs were estab- 
lished, where men in uniform could 
find housing and recreational facilities, 
at Alexandria and Richmond, Va., 
Philadelphia, Garden Lake, N. J., 
Greenville, S. C, Columbia, S. C, New 
York, Chicago, Jacksonville, Fla., 
Baltimore, Charleston, Syracuse, 
Portsmouth, Va., Norfolk, Va. 

Through this Committee fifty-five 
Catholic Colleges became units of the 



Student's Army Training Corps, with 
much addition of prestige and of in- 
calculable good to thousands of stu- 
dents. 

Women's Activities. 

In listing Catholic Women's societies 
throughout the country this committee 
came into touch with forty-two hun- 
dred such organizations. Practically 
all of these were sewing or knitting, or 
making surgical dressings, either inde- 
pendently or in close co-operation with 
the Red Cross or the Chaplains Aid, 
besides helping enthusiastically in the 
sale of Liberty Bonds, War Saving 
Stamps, Thrift Stamps. All of these 
societies were urged to co-ordinate and 
unify their activities and to keep in 
touch with the Committee for close 
co-operation with the more urgent 
needs. 

The Committee erected various Visi- 
tors' Houses, one at Camp Mills, L. I. 
Another at Camp Merritt, N. J. was 
especially active. Ten in all were in 
active operation; spacious buildings, 
erected usually on the edge of the 
camps, where the soldiers could re- 
ceive their visiting mothers, sisters and 
friends. These Visitors' Houses were 
beyond a doubt the most popular places 
in Camp. 

Co-operation with various societies 
located near the camps brought Catho- 
lic women to interest themselves in re- 
creational activities in the K. of C. 
Camp buildings. A notable feature 
was the establishment of Joan of Arc 
Clubs, organized to sew, knit and darn 
for the soldiers, visiting each K. C. 
Building regularly every week for the 
purpose. 



52 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



The committee also arranged for the 
housing and the social needs of the 
great army of a million and a half 
women war workers, attracted from 
home into congested industrial centers. 
Also protective social workers were 
stationed near cantonments to assist 
the females attracted there for various 
reasons. 

Through this committee the Ameri- 
can Catholic Colleges received as guests 
one hundred and • fifteen French col- 
lege girls brought over as guests of the 
nation. Training schools for women 
war workers were established. 

Historical Record. 

This committee sent out fifteen thou- 
sand letters to all pastors throughout 
the U. S. for the purpose of securing 
particulars concerning Catholics in the 
service. All matter in any way illus- 
trating Catholic war activities was 
carefully preserved. Contributions to 
special funds and War Drives were 
recorded. Everything possible was 
done to preserve original documents 
bearing on Catholic participation in 
the war and war activities. 

The National Catholic Welfare 
Council. 

An outgrowth of the efficient organi- 
zation which so successfully directed 
Catholic energies during the war is the 
National Catholic Welfare Council. 
After-war problems and reconstruction 
necessities suggested the continuance 
of this national directive body. Ac- 
cordingly the Hierarchy proceeded in 
the work of national organization. 

The first conference convened at 
Washington, Sept. 24th, 1919. Five 



special branches were outlined, to care 
for the Catholic Press, Education, 
Social Service, Home and Foreign Mis- 
sions, Problems of Reconstruction. 

Archbishop Hanna, San Francisco 
was selected as Chairman, with Bishop 
Russell, Charleston, Bishop Muldoon, 
Rockford; Archbishop Dowling, St. 
Paul ; Archbishop Dougherty, Philadel- 
phia; Bishop Schrembs, Toledo and 
Bishop Canevin, Pittsburg, as members 
of the Administrative committee. 

Sixty representative Catholic men, 
delegated from twenty-five societies 
numbering almost twenty millions of 
Catholic men met in Chicago, May, 
1920, at the request of Bishop 
Schrembs,. Toledo, chairman of the de- 
partment of lay societies, National 
Catholic Welfare Council. 

Men and Women Unite. 

All subscribed to the plan of or- 
ganization outlined, namely to form 
cne national body, a national clearing 
house for Catholic societies, not to in- 
terfere with any society already exist- 
ing, but to co-ordinate and unify all 
forces for progressive work. The board 
of directors elected consisted of Rich- 
mond Dean, Chicago, chairman; F. P. 
Kenkel, St. Louis ; Edward L. Hurley, 
San Francisco; Thomas P. Flynn, 
Chicago; Thomas D. O'Brien, St. 
Paul ; Nic Gonner, Dubuque ; Judge 
P. J. N. Hally, Detroit; James F. 
Herron, Philadelphia; John G. Agar, 
New York; Robert Biggs, Baltimore; 
Judge Ed. L. Smith, Hartford, Conn., 
and Charles I. Denechaud, New Or- 
leans. 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA. 



53 



Concerted action by the Catholic 
Women of America was adopted at a 
convention held in Washington, in 
March 1920. At that time a committee 
was appointed, which meeting in Chi- 
cago later, decided upon the following 
program. 

1. The launching of a national pro- 
gram for the housing of working wo- 
men and girls. 

2. Protection and care of immigrant 
girls and women. 

3. Maintenance of national school 
of social service to train social workers. 

4. Continuation of work in citizen- 
ship. 

5. Promoting a demand for better 
films and for the support of such films 
whenever and wherever produced. 

6. Systematized effort for proper 
and economic dress for women. 

The scope of the organization at first 
will be nation-wide, and activities of 
3,000 Catholic women's organizations 
will be correlated in its program. One 
of its first pieces of work will be to 
affiliate with the International Council 
of Catholic Women, thus forming an 
international body of Catholic woman- 
hood. Its aim is not to replace any 
present organization nor to form an 
altogether new body, but to unify or 
weld all existing Catholic women's or- 
ganizations. Membership in the Na- 
tional Council may be as organizations 
or as individuals. 

Officers elected by the council were : 

President— Mrs. Michael Gavin, New 
York City. 

Vice-presidents — Miss Agnes G. Reg- 
an, San Francisco; Mrs. Therese Mol- 
amphy, Pittsburgh, Pa. 



Secretary — Mrs. Harry M. Benzin- 
ger, Baltimore, Md. 

Treasurer — Miss Florence E. Loeber, 
New Orleans, La. 

Knights of Columbus War Work. 

The experience of American sol- 
diers at the Mexican border, a year 
or so before our entry into the world 
war, taught us many things, among 
them being the advantages and bene- 
fits of organised social work among 
the men in khaki. The Y. M. C. A. 
followed the men to the border. The 
Knights of Columbus took advantage 
of the fact that so many of their own 
order members were there under arms 
and followed suit. When the need was 
recognized, a chain of buildings was 
planned and the order undertook the 
expense of more than a score of those 
effective army social centers in New 
Mexico, Arizona and Texas. Need- 
less to say, the cost of erection and 
maintenance, while our troops were 
in the south, made a large item of ex- 
penditure, entirely arranged for out 
of the funds of the Order, no appeal 
for help being made to others. And 
there was no distinction of creed. 
Everybody in uniform was made wel- 
come. The buildings were immensely 
popular. 

As a consequence, when America 
entered the world war, The Knights 
of Columbus were in a very favorable 
position to continue, on a much larg- 
er scale, the work they had shown 
themselves so capable of doing. The 
experiment at the border had shown 
the government that there was no 
question of religion raised, no stirr- 



54 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



ing up of bigotry. In fact, it is 
doubtful if, were it not for the suc- 
cess of the Mexican experiment, that 
we would have been able to organize 
Catholic recreational and social ac- 
tivities. 

The presence of these K. of C. 
buildings in training camps, and 
wherever the soldiers gathered in 
France, has done more than anything 
else that has happened in our genera- 
tion to allay bigotry and to remove 
prejudices. Above all, it has proved 
an object lesson to ignorance of Cath- 
olic affairs. Boys of all denomina- 
tions and beliefs mingled freely in 
the K. C. halls. Opportunities for 
interchange of thought, for explana- 
tion of religion were many and fre- 
quent. No secretary mentioned re- 
ligion at any time. The boys them- 
selves did that. Everyone was free 
to go and come as he would. There 
were no irksome regulations of con- 
duct. As a result the buildings were 
the most popular ones in camp. 

In foreign countries the same ex- 
perience is reported. Centers were 
to be found in every large city, es- 
pecially in the ports of disembarka- 
tion. Nor was the French govern- 
ment slow to recognize the value of 
the K. of C. war work, proof being 
found in the fact that the one hun- 
dred and fifty priests were released 
from military duties with the French 
armies, in order to do Chaplain work 
with the K. of C. Secretaries in the 
field. 

Nearly fifteen hundred men volun- 
teered for service as K. C. Secretar- 
ies in France, all between forty and 



fifty years of age, five hundred being 
selected. Two hundred recreation 
centers were in operation, fifty over- 
seas. The type of Secretary was that 
of a man who mixed with the boys, 
who could talk with them about in- 
teresting things, and by encouraging 
them in games, sports and entertain- 
ments, help keep up that indefinable 
thing known as the "morale" of the 
service. Men of the type of John 
Evers, the famous baseball player, 
Bill Donovan, formerly with the De- 
troit Tigers, Jack Hendricks, a well 
known minor league manager, and 
others, all of the sensible, level-head- 
ed sort, distinctly human in sympa- 
thies, especially active and energetic, 
led in popularity among the boys and 
did much to encourage the other Sec- 
retaries. 

K. of C. Finances. 

The finances of the early border 
efforts were, as already mentioned, 
carried together by the Knights them- 
selves. Even in the early stages of the 
great war, the Order endeavored to fi- 
nance all the expense without calling 
upon the public, or upon their friends. 
An assessment of two dollars a head 
was placed upon each member, and in 
this and other ways, one million dol- 
lars was raised and expended upon 
the War Activities. 

The budget of the first year called 
for an expenditure of $7,000,000, one- 
third of which went for construction 
and equipment, nearly one-fourth for 
chaplains, secretaries and current 
supplies, one-fifth for operation and 
about one million for extension of 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA. 



55 



the work. The administration cost 
only $100,000, or about one and one- 
half per cent. There is no better tes- 
timonial to the efficient services, of 
the K. C. War Activities Committee, 
of which Mr. Wm. J. Mulligan was 
chairman. 

In the second year, the cost and 
maintenance of buildings overseas 
formed a big issue, and the general 
extension of the work into so many 
channels which could not be over- 
looked made a much larger budget 
necessary. The last year of war 
work then called for a total approxi- 
mation of $50,000,000. 

Those "who have known the K. of 
C. work in camp and abroad are 
unanimous in their report of compe- 
tent and efficient management of af- 
fairs. Unprejudiced observers claim 
that the results achieved by the 
Knights far exceeded those accom- 
plished by any other welfare lodge, 
in places where an equal amount of 
money was placed at the disposal of 
both. A dollar in the hands of the 
K. of C. had full valuation. There 
are many reasons to account for this, 
aside from the excellent administra- 
tive ability of the Knights themselves, 
to which the editor of the Columbian 
refers: "By the prompt signing of 
contracts for materials and labor at 
the same prices accorded the govern- 
ment, the Knights saved many thou.? 
ands of dollars to the fund, and the 
administrative organization of the Or- 
der, trained in the handling of large 
affairs, being placed at the disposal 
of the war work, was another great 
economical factor. It is no exagge- 



ration to state that administrative 
preparedness, due chiefly to the Or- 
der's experience at the border, result- 
ed in large savings to the fund." 

How well and how cheerfully the 
response was made is now a matter 
of record. The excellent work of the 
Knights deserved it all, and a fitting 
tribute to them is only delayed, per- 
haps, because of the danger of invid- 
ious comparisons being made and the 
possibility of the conclusions which 
might appear unfriendly to other or- 
ganizations. See "In Peace and 
in War," published by the Knights 
of Columbus. 

K. of C. Overseas Personnel. 

James J. McGraw, Supreme Direct- 
or, and Dr. E. W. Buckley, Supreme 
Physician, were especially active in 
arrangements for headquarters in 
France and Italy. Lawrence O. Mur- 
ray, former Controller of the Cur- 
rency, now Commissioner, brought 
the weight of his experience in large 
affairs to the good of the Order. Jo- 
seph Scott, California, was another 
Commissioner in England and Prance. 
Commissioner Ryan was in charge of 
Italian activities. Mr. Wm. P. Larkin 
directed the Paris headquarters. 
Conde M. Pallen was Director of Ope- 
rations. 

History Prize Winner. 

One of the outstanding features of 
the Fortieth Supreme Convention of 
the Knights of Columbus was the re- 
port of the Knights of Columbus 
American History Commission. The 
record of the work of the commission, 
as unfolded before the convention by 



56 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Gaillard Hunt, Chief Archivist of the 
U. S. State Department and Chairman 
of the K. of C. Board of Judges, and 
by Professor George Hermann Derry 
of Union College, was informative 
and inspiring. To Samuel F. Bemis, 
Professor of History at Whitman Col- 
lege, "Walla Walla, Washington, was 
awarded the prize of Three Thousand 
Dollars in the national contest, for 
his monograph on "The Jay Treaty," 
which Dr. Hunt described as "a 
masterpiece of American History 
writing." The prize was later pre- 
sented by State Deputy James J. 
Kane of Washington and a delegation 
of Western Knights. 

Professor Bemis is a non-Catholic, 
and his college is Presbyterian. 

First To Fall. 

The first American to meet death 
on our entry into the world war was 
Lieutenant William Fitzsimmons, Kan- 
sas City Council, K. of C. 

Order For Juniors. 

At the K. of C. Convention in 1922 
a new form of service for the Order 
was suggested. It was a Junior Order. 
The Convention thought so well of it 
that a special committee was ap 
pointed to examine the question of 
activities for juniors. An eloquent 
plea for the boys, made by Rt. Rev. T. 
J. Walsh, D. D., Trenton, N. J., in- 
spired the action. 

Faked K. of C. Oath. 

No matter how many times the lie 
about the alleged terrible oath of the 
Knights of Columbus is nailed, says 
Truth, Sept., 1922, issue, it is continu- 



ally being resurrected. Those who 
want to believe it will believe it. Sec- 
ular papers have certainly contrib- 
uted to the exposure of this calumny 
against the Knights. The New York 
World said "Nearly identical in word- 
ing, the oath circulated by the Ku 
Klux Klan and alleged to be that of 
the Fourth Degree, K. of O, is taken 
from the oath first used by the Paris 
Illuminati, as they were called in 
1768 — ■ the name being changed to 
Adepts in 1772, and Free Masons in 
1778. It was delivered in a cellar, 
back of a home in Rue Vaugirard, in 
Paris, first in 1772, in a lodge attend- 
ed by Jean Jacques Rousseau (the 
philosopher of Geneva) ; Prince Louis 
Phillipe (known in the French Revo- 
lution as "Egalite") ; Jean Paul Mar- 
at, the most rabid of the revolution- 
ists ; J ohn Paul Jones, Emanuel Swed- 
enbourg and other conspirators, and 
was dictated by the celebrated char- 
latan, Cagliostro, before he was driv- 
en out of France and took refuge in 
London. The irony of the matter is 
that the Ku Klux Klan assumes the 
oath to be of Roman Catholic origin 
and against the Masons, whereas it 
realy is of Masonic origin against the 
Roman hierarchy and the French 
monarchy. ' ' 

Religions in the Army and Navy. 

In 1916 the question of determining 
the religions of the enlisted men in 
our army and navy occupied the at- 
tention of Congress for a time. Ques- 
tioned on the subject, Father L. J. 
O'Hern, C. S. P., who has care of the 
Chaplains in both branches of the 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA. 



57 



service, said : ' ' While I do not claim 
in all cases that the Catholics num- 
ber fifty per cent, of the Army and 
Navy, I maintain that nowhere will 
the percentage of enlisted men of the 
Catholic Faith in both arms of the 
service fall below thirty-three and 
one-third per cent." 

Father Rochford, Chaplain at Fort 
Slocum, N. Y., reports that out of 
forty-eight enlistments made in a 
given period, twenty-four were Cath- 
olics. 

Father Duff, Chaplain at Port Roy- 
al, N. C, found fifty-five per cent, 
of the navy recruits at his station 
to be Catholic. 

These were estimates formed con- 
cerning the men in the regular branch- 
es of the service. When the selective 
service men reached camp, the ques- 
tion was raised again and while Cath- 
olic Chaplains made no attempt at 
systematic census work, yet the fol- 
lowing facts have been gleaned : 

Chaplain T. P. McGinn, at Camp 
Devens, Ayer, Mass., reported the 
301st Infantry as 91% Catholic and 
the 304th Regiment as 90%, while 
the lowest percentage in camp was 
found in the 301st Engineers, which 
showed about one-half Catholic, the 
camp average was 60%. (Report at 
K. of C. Washington headquarters.) 
Camp Kearney, Cal., reports 27% ; 
Camp Sherman, Ohio, 29%; Camp 
Grant, Rockford, 111., showed 31% 
Catholic; Camp Logan, Texas, where 
the Chicago National Guard Regi- 
ments were stationed, produced 35% ; 
Camp McArthur, Tex., had 40% ; 
Camp Dix claimed nearly one-half of 



the camp population; Camp Funston, 
Kansas, had 17% coming from states 
where the Catholic population was 
only 13% ; Camp Lewis, Wash., had 
24% ; Camp Dodge, Iowa, 22% ; and 
Camp Custer, Mich., 34%. The Sec- 
retary of War, Mr. Baker, estimated 
the Catholics in the service at about 
35%. Paul R. Martin, Director of 
Publicity for the Knights of Colum- 
bus War Activities, said that such re- 
ports as he had received justified the 
claim to be about 40% Catholics in 
the Army. 

In the Navy, Mr. Martin concludes 
that there must be at least 60% Cath- 
olics. Father Regan, Chaplain on U. 
S. S. Minnesota, reports 800 Catholics 
out of a total 1300, over 60 per cent 
From another vessel comes the re- 
port of 900 Catholics out of 1200, 75 
per cent. The Chaplain of the Kear- 
sage reports 50 per cent Catholics, 
while K. of C. Chaplains at the Great 
Lakes the enormous Training Station 
near Chicago, report from forty to 
forty-five per cent Catholics. 

"In the Marine Corps, wlhich is 
known as the most efficient body of 
fighting men in the world," says 
Father O'Hern, "there is supposed 
to be the highest average rate of 
Catholics in any branch of the serv- 
ice, namely 50 per cent. I have no 
definite figures at my disposal, but 
I believe this estimate to be correct." 

There are eighteen Catholics in this 
country out of every hundred citizens, 
yet we find thirty-five Catholics out 
of every hundred in the Army, forty 
in the Navy, and fifty in the Marines. 



58 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Catholics Active at Home, 

It is especially gratifying to know 
that while Catholics have done their 
share in the Army and Navy, there 
has been no lack of representative 
men to take the places assigned by 
the President for the conduct of the 
large affairs which the administra- 
tion found necessary. The Shipping 
Board, the Railway Administration, 
the Food Commission, and other fea- 
tures of government work which ac- 
complished so much, and, which as- 
sisted those who were not wearing 
uniforms or providing ways to "help 
win the war," found Catholics in 
high places, not only capable, but 
really distinguished by their excel- 
lent performance of duty. In all 
cases, they served without remune- 
ration, leaving behind the enormous 
incomes called for by their business 
prominence, and in many cases actu- 
ally paralysing their own interests by 
this desertion in favor of government 
activities. 

Among men of this type we find 
Charles M. Schwab, a Catholic Cap- 
tain of Industry, so well known as 
to need no introduction to the Ameri- 
can people. Mr. Schwab was placed 
in charge of the Government's Ship 
Building Program, at a time when the 
situation seemed hopeless, as far as 
ocean transport was concerned. How 
well he succeeded is a matter of his- 
tory, actually fulfilling the goal sug- 
gested by him in the early stages, 
providing a virtual "bridge of ships" 
from America to France. 

James A .Farrell, President of the 
U. S. Steel Corporation, an exemplary 



Catholic, became Director of Opera- 
tions of the Shipping Board. Mr. 
Farrell worked his way up from la- 
boring work in a wire mill. He is 
one of the Trustees of the Catholic 
University. 

Edward Nash Hurley, Chicago, was 
Director of the Emergency Fleet Cor- 
poration, a Catholic of the plain, old- 
fashioned type, and also a self-made 
man. 

Edward F. Carry, another Catho- 
lic, was in charge of the Division of 
Operations. It was his duty to see 
that all ships were properly manned 
and efficiently operated. 

John D. Ryan, Second Assistant 
Secretary of War, was in charge of 
the Air Service, an executive par ex- 
cellence, who did much to bring about 
efficiency in this baby industry of 
our country. 

Edward R. Stettinius, Munitions 
Director for the United States, was 
a genius of high order, under whose 
skillful management, factories were 
speeded up and new ones erected to 
meet the emergency. Mr. Stettinius 
is a graduate of St. Louis University. 

Charles P. Neil was chairman of the 
Railway Board of Adjustment, who 
did much to bring order out of the 
difficulties which at first beset the idea 
of government control. 

Walter George Smith, president of 
the American Bar Association for 1918, 
one of the most prominent Catholic 
laymen in the Country, is a Commis- 
sioner to Turkey on the American 
Committee for Relief to the Far East. 

The Rev. Francis T. Moran, D. D., 
Cleveland was appointed Chairman of 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA. 



59 



the Ohio State Labor Board by the 
National Government. 

The Rev Edward Walsh, S. J., 
Georgetown University, was selected 
as New England Regional Inspector 
for the Government of Student Army 
Training Corps, with the Commission 
of Major. 

The Church in South America. 

Mr. Hilliard Atteridge has written 
a series of highly interesting and use- 
fid articles on the Church in the South 
American Republics, in which he ex- 
poses the lying character of the at- 
tacks upon her by outlining the actual 
position of the Church in that con- 
tinent and the good work she is doing 
there. The condition of the Church 
all over the ten republics is, he says, 
a highly satisfactory one," the last 
sixty years having witnessed a great 
change. To begin with, "every re- 
public except Brazil proclaims in its 
constitution that the Catholic faith is 
the religion of the nation," and even 
in Brazil there is a Papal Nuncio ac- 
credited to the government, and the 
new president has just "given most 
satisfactory assurances to the Catholic 
leaders." Moreover, even there the 
Church "is perfectly free, religious 
orders are allowed and are prosperous, 
and all but 100,000 of the popula- 
tion are Catholics (Stateman's Year 
Book, 1914). On the list of the 
founders of the Blessed Sacrament 
chapel in Westminster cathedral, Lon- 
don — the gift mainly of South Ameri- 
can Catholics, appear the names of the 
presidents of six of the republics. 

Throughout the continent of South 
America there has come a great "re- 



vival and deepening of Catholic life 
among the people. Seminaries, Col- 
leges and schools have been multi- 
plied. ' ' In this connection the Salesian 
Fathers deserve special mention. The 
people are earnest and active in the 
practice of their religious duties; for 
example, in several republics thousands 
of men of every class make retreats 
of eight days under more regorous con- 
ditions than in England ; and there are 
"active charitable brotherhoods of lay- 
men in every great city and in many 
of the smaller towns." Only a few 
years ago Colombia made the Eu- 
charistic Congress at its capital, Bo- 
gota, a national celebration, and com- 
memorated it by a monument with an 
inscription to "Our Redeemer, Jesus 
Christ, in the August mystery of the 
Eucharist." Peru has lately reintro- 
duced religious instruction into all the 
national schools. In Chile the Church 
is in a most nourishing condition, and 
exercises an ever growing influence." 
There is no lack of vocations, and the 
highly efficient seminaries sent out a 
body of priests "with a high reputa- 
tion for learning, zeal and discipline." 
There are many houses of religious 
orders too ; the churches are ' ' crowded 
at Mass every Sunday by congrega- 
tions in which men often outnumber 
the women," and the retreat move- 
ment has assumed remarkable propor- 
tions, 300,000 men having made re- 
treats in ten years. Economic progress 
and the social betterment of the work- 
ers has also been most marked. Nuns 
serve the hospitals. In Argentina a 
few years ago a petition of the Free 
Masons was rejected because it was 



60 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



hostile to the Catholic Church, which 
the republic was bouud to defend. The 
women of Argentina are magnificent 
Catholics, and have purified the stage. 
"A number of Catholic politicians 
have placed themselves in the front 
rank of the social reform movement," 
and secured some excellent measures. 
Divorce in those republics where it is 
permitted is merely a legal separation, 
and no remarriage is possible during 
the life time of either party. 

These are merely scraps of the evi- 
dence given by Mr. Atteridge to show 
that "in the ten republics Catholic- 
ity is a living power with a hold on 
the people that is ever becoming more 
and more widely effective. ' ' 

The Church in Mexico. 

A gentleman who spent some years 
in Mexico under conditions that gave 
bim exceptional opportunities of in- 
forming himself of the religious con- 
ditions of that unhappy country, des- 
cribes his experiences in a lengthy ar- 
ticle contributed to the Catholic press. 

There are what might be called two 
classes in Mexico. The better class of 
Mexicans are highly educated, not only 
in the best schools of the country, but 
often in American and English un- 
iversities, while many spend years in 
Germany or Prance. So that the really 
educated Mexicans need not fear com- 
parison with the best educated in any 
part of the world. From this class the 
episcopate is mainly recruited. Of the 
Mexican bishops, the writer speaks in 
the highest terms of sincere respect. 
Like-wise he finds the standard of the 
religious orders also unusually high, 



and the Spanish secular clergy, as a 
rule, faithful to their calling. The 
main body of the secular clergy is 
composed of native Mexicans, and here 
lies a possible element of weakness. 
He does not wish this to be under- 
stood as a sweeping condemnation of 
the native clergy, but the condition 
indicated was one that the bishops 
themselves lamented and strove, with 
all the means in their power and with 
much success to remedy. 

Extremes of Wealth and Position. 

The chief difficulty is the absence 
in Mexico of a large middle class in 
the population. The climate, the native 
Indian characteristics, and above all 
the country torn with civil strife and 
revolution, all have militated against 
the creation of a middle class amongst 
people with centuries of apathy per- 
meating their blood. But whether 
things might or might not be other- 
wise the fact remains that considering 
the size of the nation the middle class 
among native Mexicans is a neglible 
quantity. Neither from the very rich 
nor the very poor but from the virile 
manhood of the middle class the 
Church everywhere recruits the ranks 
of her clergy. 

Amongst the wealthier classes the 
women are, for the most part, sincere 
Catholics, pious and devoted to home 
life. Amongst the men the influence 
of French ideas, of German rational- 
ism, of American indifference, is more 
strongly noted. However, there is a 
large proportion of sincere and practi- 
cal Catholics. 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA. 



61 



Of the common peons who form five- 
sixths of the population the religion is 
nominally Catholic, but leaves a great 
deal to be desired. 

Penal Laws. 

The reason why an able and learned 
episcopate is comparatively powerless 
is found in the iniquitous laws that 
sequestrated all Church property, sup- 
pressed religious orders and hampered 
with official red tape what semblance 
of liberty that was left. Colleges 
were seized and converted into govern- 
ment schools in which infidelity is 
openly taught. New parishes may not 
be opened without government per- 
mission. Building can not be under- 
taken without funds, and these will 
not be forth-coming when it is known 
that the government will take posses- 
sion of the buildings when erected. For 
a priest or sister to appear until re- 
cently on the street in a religious garb 
would subject them to a fine. Even 
now it is dangerous. The writer tells 
of the burial of one of the Jesuit 
Fathers at which he assisted some 
years ago. "We had to consign the 
body to its last resting place with a 
hurried prayer and a few drops of holy 
water, and even this furtive act rend- 
ered us, liable to fine or imprison- 
ment. ' ' 

The hampering laws of a hostile 
government leaves the Church in Mexi- 
co in a great measure helpless before 
the great work which confronts it, and 
are an eloquent contradiction of the 
stupid and misleading charge so often 
made by ill-informed Protestants that 
the Catholic Church is all-powerful 
in Mexico- 



Religious Freedom. 

In the Catholic World for July, 
(1914) there is a strong letter from a 
correspondent "intimately acquainted 
with the present conditions in Mexi- 
co." The following excerpt explains 
the situation of that time and of later 
years. 

Church Opposition. 

The Church is doing the best she 
can with the scanty resources at her 
disposal to keep schools open, but she 
is handicapped by the government, 
which insists upon the attendance at 
the public schools of all children whom 
they can reach, and in the latter 
schools God and religion are absolutely 
tabooed. The little ones are taught 
that their worst enemies are the priests, 
that there is no future life, and that 
they need only worship the father- 
land. Of such individuals brought up 
in the national schools or in no schools 
whatever, was composed the army of 
the Constitutionalists, who did so much 
mischief and committed such atrocities 
in poor Mexico. The atrocities were 
beyond a doubt inspired by a senseless, 
diabolical hatred of the Catholic 
Church, a hatred fomented sometimes 
by the calumnies of sectarian mission- 
aries, male and female, by foreign agi- 
tators who have invaded the country, 
and by the Masonic lodges. The proof 
of this assertion is that at times prisons 
were full of priests, churches closed 
and desecrated, the sacred vessels pro- 
faned and stolen, and houses ransacked 
and looted. The schools conducted by 
the Marist Brothers, the Brothers of 
the Christian Doctrine, the Ladies of 



62 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



the Sacred Heart, and other Religious 
were condemned intolerantly as being 
inferior to the national schools, and 
not up to the requirements of modern 
pedagogy! and in most cases the es- 
tablishments were closed after under- 
going a general and generous looting 
of the premises. When the followers 
of Carranza took the small town of 
Salinas Victoria, to use only one in- 
stance, one of their first acts was to 
enter the church, break open the taber- 
nacle, throw the Blessed Sacrament to 
the dogs, appropriate the ciborium, 
monstrance and chalice and then shoot 
to pieces the statues of the Blessed 
Virgin, St. Joseph and other saints in 
that beautiful little church. 

Mexican Persecution. 

In the November (1914) issue of the 
Extension, the Reverend Father, now 
Monsignor Kelley prints, as the leading 
article, a review of the Mexican situa- 
tion, in which he, as head of the Church 
Extension Society, has been actively 
interested. 

"Six hundred priests are at present 
in Vera Cruz, priests and sisters who 
have fled to that place from all parts 
of Mexico. The cruelties perpetrated 
by the Constitutionalists against in- 
offensive priests and sisters, and the 
unspeakable outrages against nuns 
have been smothered a little too long. 
A desire for peace will never justify 
murder, robbery and wanton outrage. 
There is such a thing as dishonorable 
peace and there is such a thing as a 
peace that may be more horrible 
than the worst horrors of war. No one 
would believe that men could be so 



blinded by hatred, so abased in strife, 
as to become veritable beasts, as have 
the Constitutionalists, officers and 
soldiers. 

Catholic Education in Mexico. 

It has been in the interest of the 
enemies of the Church to spread the 
popular calumny against her that she 
has neglected the education of the 
people and has battened upon their 
ignorance. An excellent historic an- 
swer to this falsehood is contained in 
the two-penny leaflet of the Central 
Verein, "Catholic Review and written 
by the editor of La Revista Catolica. 
The first school, that of San Francisco 
el Grande, in Mexico city, was estab- 
lished shortly after 1523 by Brother 
Pedro de Gante. About 1,000 children 
were taught there, some receiving in- 
struction in Latin and other higher 
branches of learning. In 1534 the 
Franciscan College of Tlaltelolco was 
founded, and with the coming of the 
Fathers of the Society of Jesus there 
was soon no city of importance that did 
not have its higher institution of learn- 
ing for lay students, Creoles or mesti- 
zos. The education of girls was begun 
in 1525 by the Teresian Sisters and 
continued, we are told, by the Fran- 
ciscan Sisters in most of the eighty- 
five other convents founded in Mexico. 
Learning continued to progress, until 
with the explusion of the Jesuits and 
the war waged against the Church by 
the Liberal party, education almost 
vanished from the land. When at a 
later date Porfirio Diaz freely accepted 
the help of Catholics and Religious 
Orders, "the number of public prim- 
ary schools was raised from about 4,000 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA. 



63 



to 42,000." The Government also es- 
tablished colleges and schools, but the 
elimination of religion from education 
soon proved sadly detrimental to the 
general welfare. Religious education 
itself was still hampered in the most 
serious way, though we are informed 
that there were probably from 4,000 
to 6,000 Catholic colleges in existence 
in Mexico. "All these establishments 
of virtue and learning have been de- 
molished by the vandalism of the past 
four years." 

The Church in Canada. 

In 1497 John Cabot and his son 
Sebastian, in the service of England 
discovered Labrador and Newfound- 
land. In 1500, Gaspard Cortereal, a 
Portugese, discovered the river St. 
Laurence. In 1523, Verrazani, in the 
service of the French king, visited the 
eastern shore of America, and named 
the northern part of it, New France. 
In 1534 Jacques Cartier landed on 
Gaspe peninsula, and took possession in 
the name of the French king. He 
sailed up the St. Laurence as far as 
Montreal. In 1608, Samuel de Cham- 
plain founded the city of Quebec, and 
in 1611 selected the site for the city of 
Montreal. Through his efforts, mis- 
sionaries were brought out to New 
France arriving in 1615. The Sulpi- 
cian Fathers arrived in 1663, settling 
on the island of Montreal, in the St. 
Laurence river. 

France and Church Influence. 

In 1658, the Eight Reverend Fran- 
cois de Laval was appointed Vicar 
Apostolic and first bishop of Quebec. 
The story of the colony for many years 



was a repetition of attacks by the In- 
dians, missionary work among them 
and efforts to reclaim the land in the 
midst of the hardships of the Quebec 
winters. The settlements at this period 
were confined to the district covered 
by Quebec, Three Rivers and Montreal. 
In 1722 the diocese of Quebec was di- 
vided into eighty-two parishes. The 
Hospitallers, of Montreal were active 
in missionary schools. The Grey Nuns 
came from France in 1753. Mean- 
while the differences between France 
and England, breaking out into war- 
fare at home, were taken up by the 
settlers in the new world and the arm- 
ies of the English were successful at 
Quebec under General Wolf. Canada 
was ceded to Great Britain by the 
Treaty of Paris, 1763. 

English Acquisition. 
With the acquisition of the country 
by the English trouble began through 
the abolition of the old French laws, 
and with the Indians, who, at first 
did not take kindly to their new mas- 
ters. In this period the Church suff- 
ered, recognition being refused by the 
new government. Many of the mis- 
sionaries went back to France. For 
some years, the settlers were almost 
without service. Catholics were bound 
to submit to the Test Oath, by which 
they were required to abjure transub- 
stantiation in the Mass and the invoca- 
tion of the Blessed Virgin and the 
Saints. However, fearing that the col- 
onists would join with the American 
colonies, which at this time threatened 
an uprising, the British government, 
in 1774, passed the Quebec Act, which 
confirmed the rights guaranteed Cath- 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



64 

olics in the surrender of 1763, exempted 
them from the Test Oath and provided 
for a system of maintenance of the 
clergy. The liberties obtained under 
this act conciliated the Canadians, and, 
secure in the freedom they enjoyed, 
they refused the appeal to join in the 
rebellion of the colonies, and even re- 
sisted the attempt to conquer Canada. 

Progress. 

New settlers came with the close of 
the American Eevolution. A large 
number of colonists who preferred to 
live under the British flag, dissatisfied 
with the conduct of affairs under con- 
gress, emigrated to Canada, settling in 
what is now called Ontario. These 
were the United Empire Loyalists. 
Among them were large numbers of 
Catholic people, attracted by the lib- 
erties enjoyed by Canadian Catholics. 
Settlers poured in rapidly and flour- 
ishing towns sprang up. A large emi- 
gration from Ireland brought Priests 
with them. Scotch Highlanders settled 
in Glengarry and the impetus received 
by this emigration brought others. At- 
tempts by the government to infere in 
Catholic affairs were again evident in 
1776, when Jesuit property was con- 
fiscated at Quebec. Catholic parishes 
were to be given to Protestants, and 
the Bishop of Quebec was refused ack- 
nowledgement. But the firm stand 
of Bishop Plessis of Quebec showed the 
government the imprudence of further 
tampering with the affairs of the 
Church. During Bishop Plessis' career 
Catholic education flourished. Bishops 
were appointed to Kingston, Montreal, 
New Brunswick, and the North-West. 



During the years that followed the 
French settlers in Quebec retained their 
language and customs, while the tide 
of emigration to Ontario and the west 
was almost exclusively English speak- 
ing. This brought differences, espec- 
ially since the English speaking people 
were for the most part non-Catholic. 
The lack of responsible government 
and other political grievances brought 
about the rebellion of 1837-8. This 
culminated in the Act of Union by 
which the provinces were united with 
legislatives assemblies. It was not al- 
together successful. Various other 
makeshifts were tried until the British 
North America Act of 1867 united the 
four provinces under the present name 
of the Dominion of Canada. Since then 
other provinces from the western 
country have entered the Federation. 
Transcontinental railways have opened 
up the country to settlers as far as the 
western coast. From the United States, 
from Europe and from the eastern 
provinces, they have come in great 
numbers making a phenomonal devel- 
opment of a great country. 

Work of the Missionaries. 

The first missionaries to land at 
Quebec were three of the Recollet 
(Franciscan) fathers. One of these 
Father LeCaron celebrated the first 
Mass in Ontario on June 24th, 1615, 
Champlain assisting. The Jesuits ar- 
rived in 1625. With the surrender of 
New France to the English 1629 all the 
missionaries retired to France, the 
Jesuits returning in 1632 and the Re- 
collets in 1670. They soon spread 
themselves over the countrv for the 




CARDINAL O'CONNELL. 
Boston 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA. 



65 



conversion of the Indians. They dis- 
played unbounded zeal and opened up 
a way for settlers through trackless 
territories hitherto unknown. Many 
suffered the most cruel martyrdom 
with heroic constancy, chief among 
them being Father Jean de Brebeouf , 
martyred by the Hurons in the Georgi- 
an Bay country, 1649. Others who mot 
death in this way were Fathers Joques 
(1646), Lallement, Daniel and Gamier 
(1649), and Father Buteaux (1652. 
Father Rasle (1724) was martyred by 
the Abenaquis. The Recollet fathers 
had missions in Quebec and Ontario, 
the Sulpicians in Ontario and Quebec, 
the Jesuits in Ontario and the far west, 
and the Oblate Fathers almost exclus- 
ively in the west. 

Prominent Missionaries. 

Father LeCaron discovered Lake 
Nipissing (1615), and Lake Huron; 
Father Joques discovered Lake Super- 
ior, 1646; Father DuQuen discovered 
Lake St. John in the same year In 1668 
Father D'Albeau went among the 
Esquimaux ; Father Albanel discovered 
Hudson Bay, 1671 ; Father Allouez was 
the first to locate copper in the Lake 
Superior region; Father Hennepin 
discovered Niagara Falls, 1678; The 
first church in Canada was started by 
Father LeCaron at Tadoussac 1616; 
Father Bocquet was the first priest at 
Detroit and Father Lafran at Mack- 
inac. A mission opposite Detroit was 
started by Father Potier in 1748; 
Father McKenna, an Irish priest was 
with the Scotch loyalists who settled 
in Canada from the United States in 
1788; Niagara had a church in 1720, 



Kingston, 1808, Ogdensburgh, N. Y., 
settled from Kingston in 1749. 

A prominent missionary in the far 
eastern part of Canada was Father 
Burke (1827) who labored near Hali- 
fax. Mgr. Seghers, who was stationed 
at Vancouver Island, with charge of 
Alaska, was far up the Yukon in July 
1877. Under Bishops Provencher and 
Tache of St. Boniface, in 1850, Father 
LaCombe began a sixty year service in 
missionary work in the north-west with 
his fellow laborers, the Oblate fathers. 
Others prominent in this region were 
Fathers Bourassa, Grollier, Dumoulin 
(1818), Thibault, Remas and Caer. 
From Canada came all the Mission- 
aries who gave their lives to the devel- 
opment of the middle and western 
states of the Union. Ohio, Illinois, 
Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, 
Wisconsin, Missouri, many other states 
bear testimony to their work in the 
names of places, French and Catholic, 
which, just as much as the Spanish 
names of the south and west, bear 
witness to the character, nationality 
and religion of the discoverers, first 
settlers and explorers. Hennepin, La- 
France, Bocquet, Marquette, D 'Iber- 
ville, LaSalle, Picquet, hundreds of 
others, priest and layman, all worked 
from Canada into the territory occu- 
pied by the United States, preparing 
the way for settlers, selecting desirable 
places for settlements which later be- 
came large cities, today giving silent 
testimony to the sagacity of their 
founders. 

Growth of the Church. 

From the parent diocese, Quebec, 
other dioceses were established at King- 



66 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



ston 1826, Montreal 1836, Toronto 
1842, Ottawa 1842, St. Boniface (Mani- 
toba) 1842, Three Rivers (Quebec) 
1852, Halifax (Nova Scotia) 1843. St. 
John (New Brunswick) 1842. Dio- 
ceses which signify the growth and 
development of the country were 
formed later at Edmonton (Alberta) 
1912, Vancouver (B. C.) 1890, Alex- 
andria (Ont.) 1890, Antigonish (N. 
S.) 1886, Calgary (Alberta) 1912, 
Charlottetown (P. B. I.) 1829, Cha- 
tham (N. B.) 1860, Chicoutimi (Que- 
bec) 1878, Hamilton (Ont.) 1856, 
Joliette (Quebec) 1904, London (On- 
tario) 1869, Peterboro (Ontario) 1881, 
Prince Albert (Sask) 1907, Eegina 
(Sask) 1910, Sault Ste Marie (Ont.) 
1904, Victoria (B. C.) 1908, Win- 
nipeg (Man.) 1916. There are sev- 
eral Vicariate-Apostolates, and one 
Ruthenian Bishop with headquarters 
at Winnipeg. An Apostolic Delegate 
has been in residence at Ottawa since 
August 1899. In all there are ten 
Archdioceses, twenty-three dioceses, 
five Victariate-Apostolic, and one Per- 
fecture-Apostolic. Newfoundland with 
direct communication with the Holy 
See, has one Archdiocese and two suf- 
fragan Bishoprics. Cardinal Begin 
has residence at Quebec with an auxil- 
iary archbishop. 

Population. 

The total population of Canada ac- 
cording to the census of 1911 was 
7,206,643. Of this number the princi- 
pal religious bodies were the Presby- 
terians (1,115,324; Methodists, 1,076,- 
892; Anglicans ( 1,043,892; Baptists, 
382,666; Lutherans, 229, 864 and 
Catholics 2,732,041. 



Catholics thus form about forty per 
cent of the total population. Perhaps 
about three fifths of the Catholic popu- 
lation live in the province of Quebec. 
The Catholic population gains chiefly 
by the birth rate. There are between 
three thousand five hundred and four 
thousand priests in active service. In 
Quebec the parish priest has a right 
to tithes, described elsewhere. In 
other places the clergy are supported 
as in the United States. There are 
about twenty communities of priests, 
ten of brothers and about seventy of 
sisters. Laval University at Quebec 
and Montreal is the oldest. The Jesuits 
are affiliated with Laval in Montreal 
College, the Oblates have a college at 
Ottawa, the Basilians at Toronto, the 
Resurrectionists at Berlin, the Jesuits 
St. Boniface and Victoria. Seminaries 
are at Quebec, Montreal, Toronto and 
London. 

Rights Enjoyed by Catholics. 

The Constitution of Canada is con- 
tained in the British North America 
Act of 1867. The legislature is com- 
posed of an Elective assembly similar 
to Congress in the United States, a 
Senate, with members appointed by 
the government, not elected, and a 
Governor- General appointed by the 
government of England. The salary 
of the governor is practically the only 
tribute paid by Canada to the mother 
country. Each province has its own 
government similar to that of the in- 
dividual states, with representatives in 
the Canadian houses. The Catholic 
religion has exactly the same rights 
and privileges as are enjoyed in the 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA. 



67 



United States, with the addition of 
direct application of taxation for 
school purposes to institutions under 
Catholic guidance 

In Canada each province has the 
right to settle the question of educa- 
tion.. In Ontario and Quebec there is 
a system of direct taxation by means 
of which Catholics pay to their own 
schools by preference. There is no 
double support, of Catholic schools as 
well as of the Public Schools. The tax- 
es thus contributed are turned over to 
local school-boards, elective, which, 
under direction of the bishop in each 
diocese, handle all school matters. All 
teachers are qualified according to 
government standards, sisters and 
brothers taking the examinations with 
others. There are standard text books, 
general examinations for entrance to 
high school work. Catholics are free to 
select the system, Separate or Public, 
to which their taxes are devoted. It 
is a system which works well, the bal- 
ance being held between the two 
provinces in the right proportion to 
assist the Catholic people in retaining 
the rights granted them, in spite of 
the attempts made in recent years to 
deprive them, and to do away with 
Separate schools and the teachings of 
religion to Catholic children. 

Catholic Laymen Prominent in 
Canada. 

Catholic Laymen have from the first 
been prominent in Canada, in the de- 
velopment of the country and in the 
conduct of the affairs of the Nation. 
Speaking only of later history Catho- 
lics have twice been honored as the 



foremost Canadian in political affairs. 
The Premier, leader of the particular 
party in power at Ottawa, both for the 
Conservatives and for the Liberals has 
been a Catholic, Sir John Thomp- 
son and Sir Wilfred Laurier, respec- 
tively. Catholics have been prominent 
in the Cabinet of every party in 
power, as becomes their numbers. In 
commercial life, in the professions, 
everywhere, instances of successful men 
are found, men no less successful be- 
cause they persevere and live good 
practical Catholic lives. 

Present Day Statistics 
in America. 

There are 28,558,048 Catholics in 
the United States and its possessions, 
according to the "Official Catholic 
Directory" for 1922, published by P. 
J. Kennedy & Sons, New York. 18,- 
104,804 are in the United States. 

Other statisticians quoting Catholic 
figures usually deduct fifteen per cent 
for children and infants, claiming that 
only adult communicants should be 
counted. The impression is created, 
therefore, that Catholic statistics are 
exaggerated. The former editor, 
Joseph H. Meier, who compiled many 
issues of the Directory, claims that in- 
stead of being overestimated, Catholics 
statistics are understimated. The figure 
18,104,804 is very conservative. Accord- 
ing to Mr. Meier, regularly at least 
ten per cent ought to be added for 
"floating" Catholic population of 
which no record can be kept. 

Number of Priests. 

The Official Catholic Directory brist- 
les with interesting facts and figures. 



68 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



CATHOLIC STATISTICS IN LARGE CITIES 



Cities 


Priests 


Churches 


High Schools 
Colleges and 
Academies 


Parish Schools 


Catholic 
Population 
Last Census 


Chicago . 


1,066 


344 


50 


281 


1,150,000 


JNew YorK 


1 1/11 

1,141:1 


OVU 


81 


1 QQ 

loo 


l,47o,291 


St. Louis . 


. 598 


257 


39 


198 


425,692 


Boston 


. 807 


295 


61 


111 


900,000 


Baltimore . 


. 565 


229 


53 


98 


287,458 


Philadelphia . 


. 828 


359 


23 


193 


217,759 


San Francisco 


. 447 


214 


36 


53 


364,826 


New Orleans . 


. 273 


202 


21 


69 


336,019 


St. Paul . . 


. 356 


262 


25 


98 


265,000 



Among them its 1922 issue shows that 
there are 22,049 Catholic clergymen in 
the United States, an increase of 406 
over the previous year. Of these about 
16,000 are Secular clergymen. The 
others are priests of Religious Orders. 

Two Cardinals, seventeen archbish- 
ops, ninety-three bishops, two arch- 
abbots and sixteen abbots are the fig- 
ures for the General Summary for the 
United States. The diocesan and re- 
legious priests now number 22,049, an 
increase of 406. During 1921, 204 new 
parishes were established. The num- 
ber of seminaries remains the same, 
but there is an encouraging gain in the 
number of seminarians. During the 
past year there were 8,698 young men 
enrolled in the 213 seminaries, while in 
1920 only 8,291 seminarians were regis- 
tered. 

Parish Schools. 

Another interesting feature of the 
Directory is that part relating to the 
parochial schools. The 1922 volume 
shows that there are 6,258 parishes 
with parochial schools, caring for 
1,852,498 children. 



State Population. 

The Directory editor in a previous 
issue prepared a list of those states 
having a large number of Catholics. 
United States , with the addition of 
The thirty banner states are as follows : 

1. New York, 2,885,824; 2. Pennsyl- 
vania, 1,756,763 ; 3. Illinois, 1,473,379 ; 
4. Massachusets, 1,392,000; 5. Ohio 
793,179; 6. Louisiana, 586,200; 7. 
New Jersey, 585,000 ; 8 Michigan, 581,- 
000; 9. Wisconsin, 576,400; 10. Mis- 
souri, 490,000 ; 11. California, 469,480 ; 
12. Minnesota, 465,900; 13. Connecti- 
cut, 441,193; 14. Texas, 318,576; 15. 
Iowa, 279,060; 16 Rhode Island, 275,- 
000; 17. Maryland, 261,000; 18 Indi- 
ana, 245,141; 19. Kentucky, 170.609; 
20. New Mexico, 140,573; 21 Kansas, 
132,701; 22. Maine, 131,638; 23. New 
Hampshire, 130,081; 24. Nebraska, 
123,403; 25. Colorado, 108,331; 26. 
North Dakota, 103,371; 27. Washing- 
ton, 93,760; 28. Vermont, 82,878; 29. 
Montana, 70,000 ; 30. Oregon, 66,450. 

The Catholic Directories of Canada 
for 1920 in English and French re- 
port that the ecclesiastical divisions 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA. 



69 



are eleven archdioceses, twenty-four 
dioceses, five vicariates, and one pre- 
fecture. A prefecture is the first 
form of organization in a mis- 
sionary territory destined to be- 
come a diocese. It is placed in 
charge of a priest with episcopal jur- 
isdiction. "When it reaches a certain 
stage of development it becomes a 
vicariate under a Bishop without epis- 
copal see in his territory. Finally, 
when sufficiently organized it becomes 
a diocese. The number of priests in 
Canada is 4,500 and the number of 
Catholics over three and a quarter 
million, namely, 3,268,837. 

The Catholic Church Extension 
Society. 

The Catholic Church Extension of 
the United States of America, an or- 
ganization which collects in, and con- 
fines its benefits to, the United States 
of America and territory under the 
American flag, was founded "to foster 
and extend the Catholic Faith ; to de- 
velop the missionary spirit in the clergy 
and people ; to assist in the erection of 
parish buildings for needy places; to 
contribute to the support of priests 
living in out-of-the-way localities and 
poverty-stricken districts ; to extend 
the comforts of religion to pioneers; 
to supply altar plate and vestments 
for poor missions ; to circulate Catho- 
lic literature; to educate or assist in 
the education of students who intend 
becoming missionary priests; to direct 
Catholic colonists to suitable locali- 
ties." 

The Society was inaugurated in Chi- 
cago on October 18, 1905, under the 
aegis of the late Archbishop Quigley. 



Four members of the Hierarchy, nine 
priests and six laymen were present at 
the meeting, at which the Archbishop 
was appointed Chancellor, and the Rev. 
Francis Clement Kelley, president. No 
money was available for the purposes 
of establishment, and the rectory at 
Lapeer, Michigan, where Father Kelley 
was pastor, became the first head- 
quarters of the Society. 

The late Bishop Hennessy, of Wichi- 
ta, was the first member of the Hier- 
archy to give his encouragement to the 
plan which subsequently developed. 
The Rev. F. C. Kelley was the originat- 
or of the scheme, or perhaps, more cor- 
rectly the adaptor of an existing model 
to Catholic purposes. His mission at 
Lapeer was handicapped by poverty, 
and to support his work there he un- 
dertook a lecture tour which brought 
him into touch with priests in the west 
and south who were struggling against 
even more adverse conditions. There 
was no one to plead their cause, and 
their constant anxiety concerning the 
necessaries of existence was minimiz- 
ing the effectiveness of their labors. 
Father Kelley wrote an article on the 
situation in the "Ecclesiastical Re- 
view." It evoked Bishop Hennessy 's 
encouragement, which in turn brought 
about the inaugural meeting. 

The Society met with an immediate 
and generous response, and at the sec- 
ond meeting of officers it was deter- 
mined to move the headquarters to 
Chicago, where they would be more 
readily available, and where the Soci- 
ety could claim serious attention as a 
national organization. 



70 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Papal Approval. 

The Holy See gave recognition to 
the Society when it was less than two 
years old, in the form of a letter (June 
7th, 1907) addressed to its Chancellor, 
and in which Pope Pius X spoke of the 
work as "most opportune in a country 
where, owing to the multitudes of im- 
migrants of various nationalities a 
great and extending field lies open for 
the upbuilding of the Kingdom of God. 
And the more so as the endeavors of 
associations hostile to the Catholic 
name are so active and so widespread. 
This hostile influence, unless coped 
with unceasingly and prudently, will 
do no little harm, especially among 
the simple folk of rural districts, to 
the happy growth of the Church of 
America." The Pope approved and 
ratified the Society and granted per- 
petually many privileges and indul- 
gences. 

In a letter (April 12, 1919) signed 
by the Cardinal Secretary of State, 
Pope Benedict XV, "desiring to give 
to your society a new mark of his 
particular consideration and esteem," 
granted the privilege of the use by the 
Society in its official emblem of the 
Papal Insignia. 

By an Apostolic Brief (June 9th, 
1910) Pius X erected the Society into 
a canonical institution, appointed a 
Cardinal Protector, fixed the head- 
quarters in Chicago, appointed the 
Archbishop of Chicago the Society's 
Chancellor ex officio, and reserved to 
the Holy Father the appointment, 
every five years, of the Society's presi- 
dent. 



Special Features. 

Membership of the Society and par- 
ticipation in the spiritual privileges 
extended to it are secured by contrib- 
uting to the Society's funds directly, 
or indirectly by subscribing to its 
Journal "Extension Magizine." The 
Magazine was established a year 
after the foundation of the Society, 
" to foster the missionary spirit," 
and through it the needs of the 
missions and the missionaries in 
America have been made known 
and, to some extent supplied. In 
addition to "Subscribing member- 
ship, ' ' the Society has annual member- 
ship ($10.00 a year) ; life member- 
ships ($1,000.00 in cash or in ten equal 
annual payments; founderships ($5,- 
000.00 in cash or ten equal annual 
payments). Founderships and life 
memberships may be established 
through wills. Founderships bestow 
upon male founders privilege of mem- 
bership of the board of governors. The 
Society has one thousand Masses of- 
fered annually for its members, living 
and dead. "Extension Magazine" 
began as a quarterly publication, and 
developed into a monthly. Its circu- 
lation and influence increased steadily. 
In 1919 it had reached a certified cir- 
culation of 287,000, and employed 
nearly 300 circulation agents. 

Auxiliaries were formed in The 
Order of Martha and the Child 
Apostle, to encourage personal service 
on behalf of the Home Missions. The 
Order of Martha is organized in 
"households," and its members have 
been responsible for building many 
chapels and schools, besides supplying 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA. 



71 



vestments and linens of home work- 
manship for the missions. The pennies 
of the children had built ten chapels 
(1922). 

The Church Goods department was 
created for the collection of used vest- 
ments and other church furnishings, 
and for their distribution after suit- 
able repair. In one year (1921) goods 
estimated at the value of $25,000.00 
were thus salvaged for use in poor 
missions. 

A Mass Intention department was 
opened when it was seen that no ex- 
isting machinery coped with the matter 
of passing surplus intentions from the 
city priests to the poor missions where 
they were needed and where they are, 
very often, the only means of sub- 
sistence afforded the missionaries. The 
Mass Intentions which passed through 
the Society in 1921 totaled $147,044.14. 
In 1919, a period of national anxiety, 
they reached $240,164.10. Mass In- 
tentions are distributed through dio- 
cesan ordinaries and through provin- 
cials of communities, and no deduction 
is made for administration. 

Extension press was created to meet 
the demand for an efficient Catholic 
mail order house for the supply of 
books and articles of devotion. Of the 
goods despatched 95 per cent are 
shipped to points at which there are 
no Catholic bookstores. Extension 
Press has published several books, and 
issues illustrated calendars for which 
the annual sale is about 200,000. The 
profits of this department and of this 
department and of "Extension Maga- 
zine" benefits the Society's general 
work. 



Work Accomplished. 

To the end of the fiscal year of 1921, 
the Society had assisted in the building 
of 2,074 church structures, of which 
1,932 were churches, ninety-eight 
schools and convents for the accom- 
modation of teaching sisters, and 44 
priests' houses. The Society's policy is 
to assist the local Catholics to help 
themselves, and to foster in them a 
spirit of responsibility. Thus a portion 
of the cost of erection is guaranteed 
by the Society when the need of a 
structure has been demonstrated, and 
the money is paid when the roof is 
on the building. Buildings assisted in 
this way have been erected in forty- 
three states of the Union, Texas stand- 
ing with 313, and South Dakota, Louis- 
iana, New Mexico, Oregon, Minnesota 
and Montana each having over a hun- 
dred. About half of all Catholic 
churches erected in the country in re- 
cent years have been assisted by the 
Society, in 1919 the percentage aided 
being as high as 88.04. 

The reports of the missionaries, sub- 
mitted with applications for assistance, 
show that nearly half a million Catho- 
lics have benefited by this constructed 
work. 

Mission schools have been helped to 
some extent. Missionary grants have 
been made to bishops for the develop- 
ment of poor dioceses. Students for 
the priesthood are being assisted, the 
method found most practical being 
that of working through the bishops of 
missionary dioceses. 

Chapel cars have been used with 
considerable success in the "West and 
South, the plan being to send the cars 



72 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



to churchless places where a halt is 
made and a mission given. Where 
experience shows the need of a chapel 
efforts have been bent toward that end. 
The Society has three chapel cars, 
named "St. Anthony," "St. Peter" 
and "St. Paul." At first they were 
transported free by the railroad com- 
panies, but the privilege was with- 
drawn at the time of the great war. 
Motor chapels were also used experi- 
mentally. Though successful in their 
mission it was found that automobiles 
were unsuited to the rough usage to 
which they were subjected by the 
necessity of journeying long distances. 

The headquarters officials of the So- 
ciety are (1922) : President, the Right 
Rev. Francis C. Kelley, D. D., LL. D. 
vice presidents: the Rev. William D. 
O'Brien (General Secretary) ; the Rev. 
E. J. McGuinness (Director Order of 
Martha and Child Apostles). 

The Society for the Propagation 
of the Faith. 

The veteran international associa- 
tion for the furtherance of missionary 
efforts in pagan and non-Catholic 
lands is the renowned Society for the 
Propagation of the Faith. It does not 
select or send out the missionaries, but 
it supports by the prayers and alms 
of its members the missionaries chos- 
en, trained and sent forth by the au- 
thorities of the Church. Since its 
foundation in Lyons, France, in 1822, 
it has been the abiding stay of the 
missionary the world over. 

Up to 1910 the society has distrib- 
uted nearly $79,000,000.00, of which 
vast sum nearly $11,000,000.00 had 



been sent to the missions in America. 
Indeed, of the $4,000 collected in the 
first year of the society's existence, 
two-thirds were sent to Kentucky and 
Louisiana. 

Well might the fathers of the Third 
Plenary Council, of Baltimore, send 
to the directors of the society the ex- 
pression of their deep gratitude, as 
well as their conviction that if the 
grain of mustard seed planted in the 
virgin soil of America had grown into 
a mighty tree, it was due in a large 
measure to the generous and sustained 
help of the Society for the Propaga- 
tion of the Faith. 

In May, 1922, the Society on its 
centennial celebration was accorded 
a remarkable testimonial of progress. 

Results in Pagan Lands. 

What was done for the Church in 
the United States by the Society for 
the Propagation of the Faith is the 
story of its rich harvest of souls in 
every missionary field. Less than 
fifty years after the foundation of the 
society, eighty missionary Bishops 
went from the ends of the earth to 
sit in the Vatican Council, and every 
one of the dioceses they presided over 
was the outgrowth of aid that had 
come from the society. 

If, in marked contrast to the gloomy 
outlook one hundred years ago, the 
opening years of the twentieth cen- 
tury are aglow with radiant hope for 
the conversion of pagan nations, the 
glorious advance is due very largely 
to the unfailing assistance of the so- 
ciety. 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA. 



73 



The Catholic Colonization Society. 

Director-General, Most Eev. John J 
Glennon, Archbishop of St. Louis; 
Chairman Executive Committee, Most 
Rev. S. G. Messmer, Archbishop of 
Milwaukee ; President, Rev. Julius E. 
DeVos, Chicago. 

The society was established in 1910. 
It is a bureau of information and pro- 
tection for homeseekers and a clearing- 
house for Catholic settlers throughout 
the United States. Its objects are to 
open colonies in every part of the 
union for the different races ; to mul- 
tiply and to systematize the efforts 
now being made in behalf of coloniza- 
tion, and to impress upon Catholics 
the necessity of looking for Church 
and School in the selection of a home. 

The society now has colonies in 
operation from "Washington to Flori- 
da and from Minnesota to Arizona, 
besides a number of others in forma- 
tion throughout the United States. 

This system of colonization has been 
tested, and is has proven to be safe 
and successful It has learned what 
it required; it has contracts, to be 
signed by the land companies, which 
protect the settlers. It has experts 
in all matters pertaining to the ques- 
tion, as well as official documents of 
states and railways. It is fully 
equipped to investigate every worthy 
proposition that is offered. 

Investigations are thorough, and so 
no mistakes are made in colony sites. 
And Churches and Schools are ar- 
ranged for, with resident priests ,and 
school teachers. 

The most promising settlements are 
at Riviera and Perico, Texas, Nat, 



Miss. ; Horse Heaven, Wash. ; and 
Sarto, Arizona. 

Indian and Negro Missions. 

In thirty-two dioceses, one hundred 
sixty-four priests (61 secular, 103 re- 
ligious orders) are at work among an 
Indian Catholic population of about 
half a million. There are two hundred 
forty-nine churches and chapels de- 
voted exclusively to their use. Ten 
communities of Sisters (373 teachers, 
with 104 lay teachers) are engaged in 
the work of teaching, in fifty-five free 
boarding schools, where there are also 
twenty-six day schools directly under 
their supervision. In all there are 5000 
pupils, 72 teaching Brothers are also 
engaged. The Franciscan Sisters, the 
Benedictines, Notre Dame, Divine 
Providence, Gray Nuns, Mercy, Lor- 
etto, Blesed Sacrament under Mother 
Katherine Drexel, are all prominent in 
this work. Recently, the Sisters who 
teach in the government schools were 
recognized and praised very highly for 
effective work. 

Mission work among the colored 
people is conducted by a special board, 
under direction of the hierarchy 
in thirty-five dioceses. One hundred 
fifty-four priests, two of them colored, 
are actively engaged, having seventy- 
two churches and chapels. There are 
one hundred twenty-six schools, con- 
ducted by Sisters, having over sixteen 
thousand pupils. Twenty-seven char- 
itable institutions care for nearly three 
thousand children. The Josephite 
Fathers are prominent in this work, 
conducting also Epiphany College and 
St. Joseph Seminary in Baltimore for 



74 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



the higher education of Negroes. Nine 
other communities of Priests are in- 
terested in the work. 

There are about twelve million col- 
ored people in the United States of 
whom about 200,000 are Catholics. One 
thousand priests and bishops are mem- 
bers of a league to support negro mis- 
sions. 

Mission Field Summary. 

It is an indisputable fact that the 
number of workers in the mission field 
is out of all proportion to the task to 
be performed. A glance at the statis- 
tics of those countries which are still 
pagan or where Christianity is the re- 
ligion of an insignificant minority will 
demonstrate our assertion more elo- 
quently than any words. Although 
approximative, these statistics will give 
a fair idea of the state of affairs. 

Japan and Corea 

Total population 62,000,000 

Number of Catholics 162,000 

Number of priests 282 

which means that there is one priest 

ministering to 575 Catholics and work- 
ing for the conversion of 220,000 in- 
fidels. 



China 

Total population 420,000,000 

Number of Catholics 1,820,000 

Number of priests 2,380 

or, one priest for 768 Catholics and 
179,193 pagans. 

Indo-China 

Total population 42,000,000 

Number of Catholics 1,035,000 

Number of priests 1,081 

or, one priest for 957 Catholics and 
40,000 pagans. 

India 

Total population 294,000,000 

Number of Catholics 2,400,000 

Number of priests in mis- 
sion districts 2,800 



or, one priest for 858 Catholics and 
105,000 pagans. 

Africa 

Population of mission dis- 
tricts 157,000,000 

Number of Catholics 750,000 

Number of priests 1,903 

or, one priest for 400 Catholics and 
82,000 infidels. 

Oceanica 

Population of mission dis- 
tricts 4,000,000 

Number of Catholics 130,000 

Number of priests , 360 

Article by Mons. Freri, Miss. Ap. New 
York in Eccles. Rev Aug. 1917. 



Bibliography 

In addition to works directly quoted in Chapter Two we have 
pleasure in acknowledging credit due to the following writers in 
magazine or other articles; Very Rev. A. P. Doyle, C. S. P., Father 
O'Hern, C. S. P.; Rev. J. E. DeVos; Rt. Rev. Wm. H. Ketchan; Rev. 
Geo. Waring Chaplain, U. S. A.; Rev. M. Kenny, S. J., in America; 
Rev. J. W. Reardon, S. J.; Rt. Rev. F. C. Kelley, D. D., in Extension 
magazine; Hilliard Atteridge. 

Books, Memoirs of Chaplain Life, Father Corby, C. S. C; Cath- 
olics and Patriotism, W, G. Smith; American Catholic and the A. 
P. A., P. H. Winston; John Gilmary Shea: Catholics Aid and the 
American Revolution, Martin Griffin; Spark's Writings; William- 
son's History of Maine; Memoirs of various Religious Orders; 
Catholic Page of American History, J. L. MacDonald; Knights of 
Columbus in Peace and War; American Catholics in the War, 
Williams. 



CHAPTER III 



Religious Orders in America. 

Their History Synonymous with Country's History — First Mass— First Priests in 
Different Localities — Church Settlements — Parish Churches — Homes of the Orders — 
The First American Nun — First Communities of Sisters — Varied Activities — American 
Orders — Teaching and Charitable Work — Reference List— Technical Training — Nuns 
in Trades — The Christian Brothers — Canonized Founders of Religious Orders and 
Congregations — Feasts and Particulars — The Religious Life — Vocations. 



The Religious Orders in America. 

The history of the earlier civilization 
of America may justly be described as 
a part of the history of the Religious 
Orders. What Parkman said of the 
early exploration of America, "Not 
a cape was turned, nor a river entered, 
but a Jesuit led the way, ' ' is sufficiently 
expressive. And even before this, it 
was a Religious, Father Perez, who 
helped Columbus fit out his expedition. 
Other priests accompanied him, more 
followed in the wake of his vessels. 
Every explorer had his chaplains, 
every expedition was blessed by the 
Church. Cartier, Cabot, Champlain, 
nearly all the great explorers, were 
Catholics and eagerly made room for 
the priests who accompanied them. 
Later, the priests themselves led the 
expeditions. Breboeuf, Marquette, 
Hennepin are names which stand for 
great things in America and their 
deeds are worthy of the missionary so- 
cieties to which they belonged. 

The First Priests. 

The first missionary priests came to 
Canada with Cartier in 1534. The 



Recollet Fathers began the first active 
missionary work there in 1615. They 
yielded to the Jesuits in 1625, who 
extended their work into New York 
State about 1642, and about the same 
time to Michigan. In 1657, the Sul- 
picians came. 

A Dominican father came to Florida 
from Guatemala in 1549, but almost 
immediately after landing, was killed 
by the Indians. The Jesuits began 
work there in 1566. In 1570 they 
spread their influence to Virginia. In 
1577 the Franciscan fathers arrived in 
Florida, working extensively until the 
final destruction of all the missions by 
slave traders in 1704. 

Church Settlements. 

The Catholic Colony of Maryland 
was founded in 1634 by the Jesuits, 
Father White and his companions. 
The Recollets came to New England 
in 1619, the Capuchins following in 
1633, the Sulpicians in 1785, the Jes- 
uits in 1848. 

New York State had its first church 
near Syracuse in 1655, and New York 



76 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



City had its first Mass in October, 
1683. 

The Ohio river section and the re- 
gion westward was cared for by the 
Jesuits from Canada in 1640, and the 
work was extended to Illinois in 1674 
by Marquette. The chain of forts ex- 
tending from. Canada along the Ohio 
river and south to New Orleans served 
as a great protection to the work of 
missionaries. 

The Louisiana section, first visited 
by Father Marquette, was opened up 
by the Franciscans in 1682. Arkan- 
sas in 1702, Dakota in 1666, Minnesota 
in 1837, Montana in 1840, Oklahoma 
in 1847 were reached by the Jesuits. 
Texas — and more especially, the south- 
western part of the state, was pro- 
vided with Missions by the Franciscans 
in 1544. — San Antonio, the third old- 
est city in the United States having 
grown out of a Franciscan mission. 

Other Missions. 

Missions in parishes were begun about 
1860. The Lazarist fathers came in 
1816, the Eedemptorists in 1832, the 
Passionists in 1852. The Dominicans, 
Augustinians, and Marists are also 
active in this work. Eight Dominicans, 
five Franciscans and nine secular 
priests died while on duty in Memphis 
during the yellow fever epidemies of 
1873-78-79. Let it be said incidentally 
that the Congregation of St. Paul 
(whose members are popularly known 
as "the Paulists," was established in 
the United States not very many years 
ago, the foremost of its little band of 



six founders being Father Isaac Heck- 
er, who was a convert. The Paulists' 
special work was at the outset, and is 
yet to a considerable extent, that of 
giving missions to non-Catholics, and 
there can be no doubt that their efforts 
in guiding non- Catholics into the One 
True Church have been highly success- 
ful. 

Religious Community Homes. 

Besides the orders and congregations 
named hereabove, the Servite Fathers 
and the Carmelites have a numerous 
representation in the United States, 
and the Trappists (or Carthusians) 
have monasteries in Kentucky and in 
Canada. The Missionary Fathers of 
La Salette, whose purpose is to preach 
missions and retreats, are found in 
Hartford, Conn., and Fitchburg, Mass. 
At Seattle, Wash., there is a college 
and novitiate of Brothers of Our Lady 
of Lourdes, these brothers being vowed 
to the Christian education of youth, 
especially the poor, the care of orphan 
asylums, the nursing of the sick and of 
old men in hospitals, and similar char- 
itable works. 

Particularly active in North Ameri- 
ca, and proportionately successful along 
their various lines of spiritual en- 
deavor have been the comparatively 
modern Order of the Oblates of Mary 
Immaculate, the Congregation of the 
Precious Blood, the Congregation of 
the Holy Cross, the Society of Mary, 
and the Congregation of the Brothers 
of Mary. Of these, the Order of the 
Oblates of Mary Immaculate (founded 



RELIGIOUS ORDERS IN AMERICA. 77 



in France by Bishop Charles De Ma- 
zenod) stands devoted to the instruc- 
tion of the poor and humble, the visi- 
tation of the prisons, and the care of 
foreign missions. The Oblates came to 
Montreal, Canada, in 1841. Since then 
they have spread throughout the North- 
ern half of the American continent, 
their missionary field comprising not 
only the vast region of north-western 
Canada, but elsewhere. Next, the 
Congregation of the Resurrection are 
in Canada, Chicago and Kentucky. 

The Congregation of the Precious 
Blood (founded during the early part 
of the 19th century in Rome) has been 
doing excellent missionary work in 
Ohio since 1843. The Basilian fathers 
are in Detroit and have several houses 
in Texas and in Canada. The fathers 
of the Holy Cross (a Congregation 
founded in France in 1834) came to 
Indiana in 1842, and there began the 
foundation of the University of Notre 
Dame, which is one of our greatest 
and best Catholic educational institu- 
tions. They have schools and mission- 
ary houses in the dioceses of New Or- 
leans, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Fort 
Wayne, and Galveston, and several 
colleges in Canada. As to the Society 
of Mary (founded in France at the 
outset of the 19th century), which is 
devoted to the ends of college educa- 
tion and pastoral and mission work, 
it appeared in Louisiana in 1863, and 
by this time has colleges and missions 
in almost every part of the United 
States. The first American colony of 
the Congregation of the Brothers of 



Mary (founded in France early in 
the 19th century) was established in 
1849 at Dayton, Ohio. Instruction of 
youth is the special purpose of the 
Brothers of Mary, and they have in the 
United States alone more than thirty 
educational establishments. 

Congregations of Women. 
The First Nun. 

Catholics have been interested in the 
effort to establish facts concerning the 
first American-born nun. Mr. John J. 
Ryan and Mr. Thos. F. Meehan, both 
authorities on American Catholic hist- 
ory have helped in the researches. 

Miss Mary Davis, in religion Mother 
Mary Benedict, was born in Salem, 
Mass. in 1680. Taken captive by the 
Abenaquis Indians in 1686, she was 
adopted by the sachem of the tribe 
after her whole family had been mas- 
sacred. She lived with the Indians 
for about twelve years. Father Rasle, 
S. J. a missionary found her very 
docile to teaching, and after many 
perils, he succeeded in extricating her 
from savagery, placing her as a boarder 
in the Ursuline Convent in Quebec. She 
was admitted to profession by the 
Ursulines in 1700, after two years no- 
vitiate, and was thus the first sister 
of American birth in that community. 
She died in 1749. 

Some authorities seem to favor the 
claim of historians that Sister St. Mar- 
tha of the Ursuline Novitiate at New 
Orleans was the first American-born 
nun. A Miss Fanny Allen is also 
mentioned, among others, for the 
honor. 



78 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



First Community of Sisters. 

The Ursuline Convent at Quebec, 
where on the authority of the Mother 
Superior (1918) Miss Mary Davis en- 
tered and was professed in 1700, was 
established in that Canadian city by 
Madame de la Peltrie in 1639, with a 
few sisters from Prance. 

The Congregation of Notre Dame 
was founded at Montreal, Quebec in 
1653 by Sister Bourgeoys under Bishop 
Laval. The Ursulines and Carmelites, 
who are cloistered nuns established 
convents in this country during the 
first half of the nineteenth century. 
The Dominican Sisters, whose Ameri- 
can mother-house is in Sinsinawa, Wis., 
have been doing remarkably good and 
fruitful service as teachers — of the 
parochial schools, more particularly. 
And the Ladies of the Sacred Heart 
have been conducted for a good many 
years, and are now conducting, a num- 
ber of convent-schools (or colleges) 
for young girls. Nor are the Poor 
Clares, devoted to deeds of charity, 
without representation in North Amer- 
ica. 

The Sisters of Notre Dame, whose 
congregation was founded at Amiens, 
France, by the Venerable Mother, Julie 
Billiart in 1803, and who first came to 
America (Cincinnati) in 1840, devote 
their lives to education. As early as 
1843, six Sisters of Notre Dame ac- 
companied the justly famous Jesuit 
missionary Father de Smet from Bel- 
gium to Oregon, there to take 
charge of the Indian schools. There 



they labored for years under severe 
hardship and constantly threatening 
danger, then to repeat their successful 
activity in California. At present 
they have half a hundred houses in 
the United States and under their di- 
rection are some fifty thousand schol- 
ars. 

Very rapid and thorough, too, has 
been the growth in America of the 
order of the Visitation of Mary, the 
Sisters of which are generally known 
as the Visitandines. St. Francis de 
Sales was the founder of this Order, 
and Dr. Leonard Neale, the second 
Archbishop of Baltimore, established 
it in our own country, during the first 
quarter of the last century. The Sisters 
of the Visitation's convent schools are 
primarily for girls of the better classes. 
There are now no less that 21 prosper- 
ous communities of the Order in the 
United States. 

A native American is the Order of 
the Sisters of Loretto, or friends of 
Mary At the Foot of the Cross, since 
it came to life in Marion County, 
Kentucky, in 1812. The saintly Father 
Charles Nerinck inspiring and aiding 
the foundation, and since the young 
women who founded it were all of 
American birth and breeding. So well 
has this "American" (teaching) Order 
propered, that it now numbers some 
fifty communities, situated in Ken- 
tucky, Illinois, Missouri, Colorado, New 
Mexico and Alabama. 

Varied Activities. 

The Congregation of the Sisters of 
the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin 
(founded in Ireland by Miss Nano 
Nagle in the latter part of the 18th 



RELIGIOUS ORDERS IN AMERICA. 79 



century) devoted to the education of 
children of every class, is represented 
in America by fifteen convents in New- 
foundland, Canada and by a number 
of convents in the North, East and 
West of the United States. 

In 1873 came to the United States 
the Sisters of Christian Charity 
(founded at Paderborn, Germany in 
1850). This teaching congregation has 
flourishing establishments in fifteen 
dioceses here, dioceses covering a large 
part of the Eastern, Central, Middle 
Western and Southern sections of the 
country. 

American Orders. 

Again we find an American-born 
congregation in that of the Assumption 
of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which was 
founded in the diocese of Three Rivers 
(now of Nicolet) Canada in 1853, and 
whose chief object is to fit young girls 
for the purpose of teaching school. 
This congregation has houses in Cana- 
da and the United States. 

Canada and the United States also 
are the American field of labor of the 
Congregation of the Holy Cross and 
the Seven Dolors, which was founded 
in France (1837), and which beside 
educating young girls in boarding and 
parochial schools, visits the sick in 
their homes. 

The Institute of the Sisters of St. 
Mary is a teaching order founded in 
Belgium and introduced into the 
United States in 1863. 

Another teaching organization found- 
ed in America is that of Society of the 
Sisters of the Holy Name of J esus and 
Mary, established in the diocese of 
Montreal in 1843. That this Society 



has been blessed with abundant success 
appears from its roster of houses at 
this present day; not less than 27 
houses in Canada and not less than 
27 in the United States, those in the 
latter country reaching from New York 
to California and Oregon and as far 
South as Key West. And still another 
American-born, U. S. born, congrega- 
tion (founded at Monroe, Michigan, in 
1845) bears the title of the Congre- 
gation of the Sister-Servants of the 
Immaculate Heart of Mary and has 
for its special purpose the education 
of the young. 

The Society of the Sisters of the 
Immaculate Heart of Mary was found- 
ed in France 1789 and established in 
the United States inl853. The Sisters 
are in charge of academies for the 
higher education of young girls, kin- 
dergartens and preparatory schools for 
small girls and boys, parochial schools 
for white and Indian girls, vocational 
schools for deaf-mute girls and boys, 
homes for working girls, day nurseries 
for children of mothers who are work- 
ing-women, night refuges for homeless 
women and children, orphan asylums 
for white and Indian children. And the 
Sisters of the Holy Humility of Mary 
who, though established in France in 
1855, came to Lawrence Co., Pennsyl- 
vania as a whole community, and with 
their founder in 1864, teach, care for 
the sick and maintain and educate or- 
phans. 

Sisters of Charity. 

From the teaching sisterhood, we 
will now come to the Orders of Mercy, 
as they are found in America, and we 
will begin by viewing the Society of 



80 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, 
because this Society too is "American- 
born," was founded in Kentucky, Jan- 
uary 1813. The Sisters have charge 
of twenty-four schools and hospitals 
their mission being to instruct poor 
children and servants and to visit and 
nurse the sick without regard to their 
creed. 

Of Irish orgin is the community of 
the Sisters of Our Blessed Lady of 
Mercy, generally known as the Sisters 
of Mercy, since it was organized by 
Miss Catherine McAuley at Dublin, in 
1829. A colony of the Sisters came to 
America that same year. At this 
writing, they are to be found in at least 
thirty dioceses in the United States and 
Canada, ever busy at the tasks of 
educating young girls, taking care of 
the sick, visiting prisons and hospitals, 
laboring in orphan asylums and insti- 
tutions for the insane, as well as visit- 
ing the poor sick in their homes. 

As their name implies, the Sisters of 
Charity of St. Vincent de Paul were 
established (1633) by that very great 
saint, St. Vincent de Paul and by Mile 
Le Gras in France. The first com- 
munity of this holy order to be found- 
ed in America owed its existence to a 
zealous convert, Elizabeth Seton, in the 
early part of the nineteenth century. 
To-day the Sisters of Charity are 
everywhere throughout this country, 
conducting academies, parochial 
schools, orphanages, hospitals and asy- 
lums. To the Sisters of Our Lady of 
Charity of the Good Shepherd (found- 
ed in France during the 17th century) 
has fallen one of the noblest, honest, 
highest, most admirable missions of 



Christian Charity; that of rescuing 
from temporal and spiritual ruin un- 
fortunate fallen women and of pro- 
tecting and keeping younger girls from 
becoming fallen-women. It is one of 
North America's greatest, most valu- 
able privileges and glories to harbor 
Houses of the Good Shepherd in all it's 
great cities. These Sisters first came 
to the United States (Louisville, Ken- 
tucky) in 1845 and to Canada (Mon- 
treal) at about the same time. 

Once again, we find in the Sisters of 
Charity who are called the Gray Nuns 
an order of American birth, as this 
order was founded at Montreal, Cana- 
da in 1747 by the Venerable Mother 
Youville. The Gray Nuns take care of 
the aged and infirm of both sexes, edu- 
cate orphan boys and girls, nurse the 
sick in hospitals, visit them in their 
own homes, and conduct refuges for 
children day-nurseries. They have a 
number of houses in Canada. 

Nursing the sick is the chief work 
of the Sisters of St. Mary of St. Louis, 
who have, since 1772 earned glory and 
admiring love in St. Louis, Memphis, 
Tennessee, New Orleans, and Kansas 
City, notably — by their untiring hero- 
ic devotion to the sick during several 
small-pox and yellow-fever epidemics. 

Finally, the Little Sisters of the As- 
sumption, widely known as the Nurs- 
ing Sisters of the Poor, have been in 
the United States since 1891. They do 
not accept money from those whom 
they nurse and do not allow their char- 
ity to be limited by any consideration 
of creed, age or condition. 

A Reference List. 

Follows a reference list of the Re- 



A PUBLIC CONSISTORY AT THE VATICAN. 



Impressive scene in the Sala Regia, Vatican. Picture shows the ceremonies at 
which His Eminence, Cardinal Dougherty, was elevated, 1921. With him are 
Cardinal Faulhaber, Munich, and Cardinal Schulte, Cologne, and attendants, kneeling 
before the Holy Father. 



RELIGIOUS ORDERS IN AMERICA. 



81 



ligious Orders and Congregations not 
already noted. The Alexian Brothers 
are engaged in Hospital work in Chi- 
cago, St. Louis, Green Bay, Newark, 
N. J. 

The Capuchin Fathers have houses 
in Detroit, Maryland, Oregon. 

The Trappists from France are at 
home in Nelson Co., Kentucky, Dubu- 
que, la., Ehode Island. 

St. Charles Congregation of Rome 
are in New York and Chicago. 

The Christian Brothers are devoted 
to educational work in every diocese 
throughout the country. Their home is 
in France with Provinces at Balitmore, 
New York, St. Louis, San Francisco. 

The Christian Brothers of Ireland 
are in New York City. 

The Congregation of Missions con- 
tinues to do most excellent work. The 
record returned by the members labor- 
ing on the Foreign Mission for the 
year October, 1913, 1914, is certainly 
a marvelous one— 67,903 baptisms of 
adults, 445 conversions of heretics and 
181,481 baptisms of pagan children. 

The number of Bishops and mis- 
sionaries is exactly 1,400, and that of 
the Christian villages under their zeal- 
ous care 1,557,468. In the missions 
confided to the care of the Vincentian 
Fathers there are 911 native priests, 
3,277 catechists, 5,850 churches and 
chapels, 50 seminaries, with 2,382 stu- 
dents; 4,785 schools, with 157,140 pu- 
pils ; 339 orphanages, with 21,291 child- 
ren; 528 hospitals and refuges for 
those afflicted with leprosy. A marvel- 
ous record indeed of work done for 
God's glory. 

The Jesuit Fathers have Provinces 



in New York, Missouri, New Mexico, 
New Orleans and California, with 
about 1100 priests in active work, 
teaching and on missions. 

The Josephite Fathers for Colored 
Missions, Baltimore, Md., have missions 
in twelve dioceses, 54 priests working 
wherever negroes are located. St. 
Joseph's Seminary, Baltimore, is their 
headquarters. 

The Brothers of Mary are in Cincin- 
nati, St. Louis, Chicago, Dubuque, 
Bellevile, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Ken- 
tucky. 

The Marist Brothers of Italy are in 
New York, Boston and Manchester. 
They are teachers. 

The Congregation of St. Viator are 
in Chicago, Peoria, Sioux Falls, S. D. 

The Congregation of the Missions 
in Philadelphia, Missouri, Erie, Pa. 
Chicago, California. They have four 
colleges, seminaries and Universities 
with about 250 priests. They are well 
known throughout the Middle West, 
particularly. 

The Society of the Divine Word 
from Holland, engages in Foreign mis- 
sions. It has about 600 priests, with 31 
in America, and houses at Chicago, 
New York, Erie, Little Rock, Natchez. 
In Chicago the Fathers conduct a tech- 
nical training school for boys. 

The Blessed Sacrament Sisters were 
founded by Mother Katherine Drexel. 
They teach in Indian and Negro schools 
everywhere. 

The Sisters of Charity of the Blessed 
Virgin Mary have headquarters in Du- 
buque. They teach in Chicago, Milwau- 
kee, St. Louis, San Francisco and else- 
where. They have about 1,100 Sisters. 



82 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



The Sisters of Dominic are in Ken- 
tucky, California, Brooklyn, Kansas, 
Newburgh, N. Y., Adrian, Mich., Ra- 
cine, Wis., New Orleans. 

The Sisters of St. Dominic of the 
Perpetual Rosary are in Camden, N. 
J. Hoboken, Buffalo, Maryland and 
Wisconsin. 

The Franciscan Sisters for Colored 
people have a home in Baltimore. 46 
Sisters are in different places through- 
out the South. 

The St. Joseph Hospital Sisters are 
in Chicago, and Vermont. 

The Little Company of Mary Nur- 
ing Sisters, nurse the poor in their 
homes and do excellent work in Chi- 
cago and elsewhere. 

The Loretto Sisters from Canada are 
in Chicago, Joliet, 111. 

The Ursuline Sisters are in Michi- 
gan, Ohio, Kansas, Ontario, Canada. 

Technical Training. 

Printing, and beauty, printing and 
quiet, printing and religion. Remin- 
iscent of the old days, when dark 
cowled monks sat in inspiring gloom 
at their labor of love, is the industry 
carried on by the "White Sisters" of 
Quebec. In this modern day of ink- 
iness, noise and excitement in the prin- 
ter's domain, it is startling to find a 
complete bookmaking establishment in 
a nunnery, in a bright, clean and sooth- 
ing retreat. 

And it is not men who are engaged 
in this work, but the Franciscan Mis- 
sionaries of Mary and young trades 
novices, poor girls who are being 
trained to earn their living in oc- 



cupation that are congenial as well as 
profitable. Young girls learn to do 
efficiently this work of men, and make 
it one of beauty and real pleasure. 
They learn the most advanced methods 
connected with the art. 

Nuns the First Women Printers. 

The British Printer says that the 
general belief that women were for the 
first time employed in typographical 
work in 1631 by Rignoux, a printer in 
Montbard, is declared to be erroneous, 
a printing press worked exclusively by 
women having been in regular use in 
Italy a century and a half before that 
date. 

The printing-office was the convent 
of St. James at Mt. Ripoli, and the 
women printers were Sisters of the 
Dominican Order. The Sisters of this 
convent had practised the art of copy- 
ing and illuminating manuscripts since 
the 13th century. 

When Guttenberg's invention made 
its appearance the press spread rapid- 
ly in Italy, and every town soon pos- 
sessed its printing office. Florence 
had one as early as 1472. 

The Sisters appear to have devoted 
themselves to their typographical la- 
bors with ardor and success, for be- 
tween 1476 and 1484 more than 100 
works — a large number for that period 
— issued from the conventual press. 

The Christian Brothers. 

Statistics of that world-wide teach- 
ing order, the Brothers of the Christ- 
ian Schools, issued by the Mother 
House in Belgium state that the order 
has a total of 784 houses scattered 
throughout the world. Of these 423 



RELIGIOUS ORDERS IN AMERICA. 



83 



are in Europe, 32 in Asia, 44 in Africa, 
159 in North America, 97 in the U. S., 
62 in Canada, 75 in Central and South 
America, and 3 in Australia. The 
Brothers have 113 houses in the Brit- 
ish Empire. Of these 30 are in the 
British Isles and 56 in Canada. The 
countries in which they have the larg- 
est number of houses are Spain 118, 
Belgium 97, United States 87, Canada 
56. Of the cities, Montreal comes first 
with 14 houses, New York and Vienna 
(Austria) 11 each, Madrid 10. 

These figures do not, of course, in- 
clude schools in which the Brothers 
teach, but have no residence. 

Nearly 400 Christian Brothers died 
in battle or of disease while serving in 
the armies or with Red Cross contin- 
gents of the various countries engaged 
in the world war. More than 2,000 
members of the family of St. De La 
Salle were in the conflict. As Germany 
had excluded the Brothers from her 
borders before the war, that country is 
not represented in their roll of honor. 

Feasts of Canonized Founders of 
Religious Orders. 

A list of Canonized Founders of 
Orders and Congregations in the 
Church, with the year of their death 
and the month of their feasts is here 
given : 

St. Paul, first hermit, 342, Jan. 15 ; 
St. Anthony, Patriarch of Monks, 356, 
Janl6; St. Francis of Sales, Doctor, 
Visitation Nuns, 1622, Jan. 29; St. 
Peter Nolasco, Order of Our Blessed 
Lady of Mercy, 1258, Jan. 31; St. 
Romuald, the Camaldoli, 1027, Feb. 7 ; 
St. John of Matha, Trinitarians, 1213, 



Feb. 8; St. John of God, Brothers of 
Charity, for the sick, 1550, March 11 ; 
St. Benedict, Abbot, Patriarch of 
Monks of the West, Order of Benedic- 
tines, 543, March 21; St. Francis of 
Paula, Order of Minims, 1507, April 2 ; 
St. Albert, Compiler of Carmelite 
Rules, 1214, April 8 ; St. Paul of the 
Cross, Passionists, 1775, April 28 ; St. 
Peter Celestine, Founder of Celestines, 
1296, May 19; St. Philip Neri, Ora- 
torians, 1595, May 26 ; St. Angela of 
Brescia, Ursulines, 1540, May 31; St. 
Norbert, Premonstratensians, 1134, 
June 6 ; St. Columb. Ab. Founder of 
Monasteries, 597, June 9; St. Juliana 
Falconieri, the Mantellate Servites, 
1340, June 19; St. William, Monte 
Vergine near Naples, 1142, June 25 ; 
St. John Gualbert, Valombrosa, 1073, 
July 12; St. Camillus de Lellis, for 
Visiting the Sick, 1648, July 18; St. 
Vincent de Paul, Lazarists and Sisters 
of Charity, 1660, July 19 ; St. Jerome 
Emilianus, The Somasky, 1537, July 
20 ; St. Ignatius of Loyola, Founder of 
the Society of Jesus, 1556, July 31 ; 
St. Alphonsus Liguori Doctor Re- 
demptorists, 1787, Aug. 2 ; St. Dominie, 
Order of Friars Preachers, 1221, Aug. 
4; St. Cajetan, Theatines, 1547, Aug. 
7 ; St. Clare of Assisi, Poor Clares, 
1253, Aug. 12; St. Jane Frances de 
Chantal, Foundress, with St. Francis 
de Sales of Many Convents of the 
Visitation, 1641, Aug. 21 ; St. Bernard 
Ptolemy, Olivetans, 1348, Aug, 21 ; St. 
Philip Benizi, Promoter of the Order 
of the Servites of Mary, 1285, Aug. 23 ; 
St. Joseph Calasanctus, Founder of 
the Order of the Pius Schools, called 
also Piarists, 1648, Aug. 27; St. 



84 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Augustine, Bp. Doc, Augustinians, 
430, Aug. 28; St. Francis of Assisi, 
Orders of Friars Minor, 1220, Oct. 4; 
St. Bruno, Carthusian Monks, 1101, 
Oct. 6; St. Teresa, Eeformer of the 
Barefooted Carmelites, 1582, Oct. 15; 
St. Ursula, Patroness of Ursulines, 656, 
Oct. 21; St. Charles Borromeo, Ob- 
lates of St. Charles, 1584, Nov. 6; St. 
Felix of Valois, Trinitarians, 1221, 
Nov. 20. 

Of the Ninth Century — Pasehasius 
Radbertus, Monk of Soissons, d. 860; 
Hincmar, Archbishop of Rheims, d. 
882; 

Of the Tenth Century— Atto, B. of 
Cercelli, d. 961. Flodoardus or Frod- 
oardus, French historian, d. 966; 
Ratherius, B. of Verona, d. 976; St. 
Dunstan, Abp. of Canterbury, great 
Anglo-Saxon saint, d. 988. 

Of the Eleventh Century— Bur- 
chard, B. of Worms, d. 1025 ; Lanfranc, 
Abp. of Canterbury, d. 1089; Theo- 
phylact, Abp, of Constantinople, d. c. 
1071; St. Peter Damian, Cardinal- 
Bishop of Ostia, d. 1072; St. Bruno, 
Founder of the Carthusians, d. 1101; 
St. Anselm, Abp. of Canterbury, Doc- 
tor of the Church, d. 1109. 

Of the Twelfth Century— Hugh of 
St. Victor, Priest, d. 1141; Rupertus, 
Abbot, d. 1135; Peter Lombard, Au- 
thor of the "Book of Sentences." 
The Religious Life. 

Superiors of Religious Orders and 
Congregations in the United States 
complain of the difficulty they experi- 
ence in securing suitable subjects as 
novices. It is feared that the life of 
the Gospel Counsels may be losing its 



attractiveness to the youths and mai- 
dens of our land. Where selfishness 
and love of ease are strong, no doubt 
faith grows weak, and none but souls 
full of faith and generosity can find 
happiness in the cloister. Yet our 
academies and high schools must be 
rich in boys and girls whom God has 
intended from all eternity should be- 
come religious, and who have all the 
qualifications too for such a career. Yet 
through lack of Prayer, instruction, 
guidance or opportunity they never 
find their place in the Divine plan. 

But the nature and the advantages 
of the religious life ought to be clearly 
explained to all who are choosing a 
career. Ever since Our Divine Lord 
said to the rich young man "If thou 
wilt be perfect, go, sell what thou hast, 
and give to the poor, and thou shalt 
have treasure in heaven; and come, 
follow me;" and to His disciples, with 
regard to continency, "He that can 
take it, let him take it," there has 
been established in the Church the 
theory of the religious life. This means 
in practice the observance by vow of 
poverty, chastity and obedience with a 
view to imitating the life and character 
of Our Saviour, thus winning the re- 
ward of a hundred-fold here and of life 
everlasting in heaven He promises 
those who leave for His name's sake, 
home, brethren, parents or lands. The 
poet Wordsworth, paraphrasing St. 
Bernard, tells of what this hundred- 
fold consist: 

Here Man more purely lives, 

Less oft doth fall, 
More promptly rises, 

Walks with stricter heed, 



RELIGIOUS ORDERS IN AMERICA. 85 



More safely rests, 

Dies happier, is freed 
Earlier from cleansing fires, 

And gains withal 
A brighter crown. 

Lines as true as beautiful ! For who 
would not wish to pass his days wholly 
free from grave sin? Yet, by exer- 
cising only ordinary care, so well 
shielded is the religious from tempta- 
tion and so abundantly provided with 
aids to holy living, that he can easily 
avoid not only all serious offenses 
against God 's law, but numerous minor 
lapses as well. The good religious, 
moreover, is practising from morning 
till night fair virtues which in a con- 
vent or monastery are common places, 
but would be the marvel of beholders 
if observed even in the most pious 
Catholics who are not religious. 

Friars and nuns "more safely rest," 
too, because they know that those re- 
ceived into an Order of Congregation 
approved by the Church are always 
doing the Divine will, for it is con- 
veyed to them by their rule and by the 
behests of their superiors. Free from 
care and concern for the morrow, ex- 
empt from the vicissitudes of secular 
and family life, religious can devote 
themeslves wholly to the transaction of 
their Father's business, either by 
prayer and expiation or by the exer- 
cise of teaching, of the care of souls, 
or of the corporal works of mercy. 
For according to the promise, "Pov- 
erty maintains, feeds and clothes relig- 
ious, just as she gives them birth in 
the Orders. Having nothing, they yet 



possess all things: they are needy and 
yet enrich many; are sorrowful, yet 
always rejoicing." The promise made 
is indeed kept. For in return for the 
father or mother that religious leave, 
they find others in the cloister; to 
compensate them for the sisters or 
brothers they have lost, they gain in 
religion hundreds, and in place of the 
one home they renounced, there will 
be in their Order a score to welcome 
them. 

The religious "dies happier," too, 
"and gains withal a brighter crown." 
For long before their last summons, 
they have given up all that makes 
death hard. They leave this world 
with joy and confidence because they 
believe that Christ who has promised to 
reward even the cup of water given in 
His name, will be particularly gra- 
cious to those who by their vows have 
given Him both fruit and tree. Fer- 
vent religious will go without fear to 
meet their Judge, for they have con- 
fessed Christ by the patient beauty of 
their lives not merely for an hour or 
two, as did the Good Thief, but for 
years and years. Devout religious 
finally will always be ready to go with 
gladness to meet the Bridegroom, and 
"hear the unexpressive nuptial song," 
because they are sure that God will 
never let Himself be surpassed in gen- 
erosity, and in return for the holocaust 
they have freely offered Him by their 
vows, they will receive a "treasure in 
heaven" that in value and duration has 
no bounds. 



86 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Sisters in Epidemics. 

When the influenza epidemic struck 
the straggling villages in the moun- 
tains of Kentucky and Tennessee with 
a malice that was spared us, the 
health authorities found themselves 
without nursing forces to meet the 
situation. The failure of the moun- 
taineers to understand even the first 
principles of hygiene and sanitation 
aggravated the situation. Southern 
prejudice was overcome sufficiently 
by the alarming situation to call upon 
the Catholic Sisterhood for aid. Many 
of the nuns had been nursing epidem- 
ic victims in the military cantonments, 
but as soon as the disease had loos- 
ened its grip there, they hurried up 
into the mountains to extend their 
ministrations. For many a mountain 
town it was the first glimpse of a 
Catholic Sister. They had heard of 
her before, from the pens of her vili- 
fiers. "What, then, must have been 



the thought of the mountaineers on 
seeing the Sister come to them in the 
hour of sickness and death, to find 
that she was indeed all the Church's 
enemies denied her? The Sisters left 
the mountains when the epidemic had 
been checked, and returned to their 
convents. It would be interesting, 
though, could their work be gauged, 
not only in the aspects of physical 
mercy, but in the vanquishing of the 
other disease that was eating at the 
hearts of the mountaineers, bigotry. 
No more potent agent could have 
been introduced into the narrow 
mountain life than the presence of 
the Sisters. Misfortune afforded the 
opportunity for using the most power- 
ful counteraction against bigotry, per- 
sonal contact. "Wherever bigotry is 
not rooted in self-interest and malic- 
iousness, it will fade after an extend- 
ed contact with Catholics. Personal 
experience far outweighs the word, 
written or spoken of another. 



Bibliography- 
Works and authors whose research has inspired the foregoing 
chapter are as follows: 

The Catholic Encyclopedia; Parkman's Jesuits in N. America; 
Father Coppens', S. J., "Who Are The Jesuits?"; Various Religious 
Community Records; Memoirs of Father Mazzuchelli; Rev. 0. B. 
Rohner's "Veneration of the Blessed Virgin;" Very Rev. Dean Harris, 
"Missionaries of Western Canada;" The New World, Chicago 
(editorial), 1914; America; The New York Tribune (a secular daily 
editorial, 1913.) Pioneer Priests and Laymen, Father Campbell, S. J. 



CHAPTER IV 



Education in America. 

Catholic Sacrifice — Organization — Early History, Establishments — Present Day 
Status — School Support — Universities and Colleges — Non-Religious Schools — Public 
Schools — Educational Vaudeville — Defects in System — Drive on Catholic Schools — 
Backward Children — Duty of Parents — Co-Education — Boarding Schools — Catholic 
Educational Association — The Gary Plan of Education — Montessori Methods — Non- 
Catholic Colleges— The Sisters College. 



"The greatest religious fact in the 
United States today," says Bishop 
Spaulding, "is the Catholic School sys- 
tem, maintained without any aid ex- 
cept from the people who love it." 
Its magnitude makes it difficult to 
understand it fully. Non-Catholics 
who speak or write of our Schools fail 
to comprehend its purpose or its 
power. 

A system which combines absolute 
unity and fixity of purpose with a 
flexibility of programme as great as 
that which obtains in the public 
school system ; which is national in 
its organization and at the same time 
diocesan ; which unites in the admin- 
istration of each school three widely 
separated elements of authority — the 
bishop, the parish priest and the par- 
ent — a system that does all this and 
does it effectively, without noise or 
boasting, must be a very large insti- 
tution. It could not be the creation 
of a day. It must have come about 
gradually, as the result of develop- 
ment through many years. 



The Parochial Schools were de- 
clared, at a meeting of the National 
Educational Association in 1889, to 
have distinctly the same ideals* as the 
Public Schools, in all matters where 
citizenship and patriotism were con- 
cerned. They teach everything that 
is taught in the Public Schools, and 
in addition, religion and religious 
morality. But they do not go in for 
fads — the experiments, more or less 
dangerous, which are constantly be- 
ing tried in the Public Schools. 

Catholic Sacrifice. 

The sacrifice which Catholics make 
in maintaining the Parochial School 
system are justified by these princi- 
ples : 

First — The spiritual interests of the 
child are supreme. Other features are 
not neglected; indeed, learning, 
health, skill and ability to make a 
living are matters of serious consid- 
eration. 

Second — Next to religion, morality 
is most important. The immature 
mind of the child cannot grasp prin- 
ciples of morality unless presented by 



88 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



way of religious authority and with 
religious feeling. 

Third — Religion, appealing to the 
heart as well as to the head, offers 
the best principle of mental and spir- 
itual unification of knowledge. 

Fourth — Our Schools are second to 
none in national usefulness and ef- 
fectiveness. They teach patriotism, 
and successfully so. They teach 
morality, and the lives of their gradu- 
ates show the result. They teach re- 
ligion, and the pupils are blessed by 
the knowledge. They teach the secu- 
lar branches of knowledge, their grad- 
uates often surpassing the public 
school graduates in competitive ex- 
aminations. They have the advant- 
ages of discipline, uniformity of 
ideals, harmony of methods, and, 
above all, disinterested devotedness 
on the part of their teachers. 

Finally, they save the non-Catho- 
lic public millions of dollars annually 
in school up-keep and taxes. 

Organization. 

They are diocesan in organization. 
The Bishop is the head, with a school 
board very often, and a clerical su- 
perintendent or inspector. The pas- 
tor is directly in control, provides 
the building, salaries, etc. The Sis- 
ters teach almost exclusively. The 
Schools are mixed : sometimes the 
boys are taught by Brothers and the 
girls by Sisters, in separate grades. 
The training of all teachers is pro- 
vided for by the various communi- 
ties, Catholic Universities and Col- 
leges assisting. Nearly all teaching 
orders have Institutes and Summer 



Schools to help, making for increased 
efficiency. 

Early History. 

The earliest schools established 
within the present limits of the United 
States were founded by the Fran- 
cisian Fathers in Florida and in New 
Mexico. They were believed to date 
from 1598, having been fully and 
completely established in 162_, ac- 
cording to records still in existence. 
The missionaries spread into every 
native town, establishing schools and 
churches. 

In all schools practical education 
was attempted, trades were taught 
the natives, and their natural skill 
was adapted to their needs. The 
missionaries taught all classes at first, 
gradually developing native teachers, 
who succeeded them in elementary 
branches. Along the Rio Grande in 
1630 there were fifty Franciscans 
serving sixty thousand Christian na- 
tives in ninety Pueblos, grouped in 
twenty-five missions, each with its 
own Church. The Revolution of 1680 
completely destroyed all this, and 
most of the Friars were massacred. 

Texas was opened in 1689, where 
much the same plan was followed. 
Here, as in California later, 1769, the 
work of the Franciscans was wonder- 
fully successful. Florida had been 
opened up by them in 1594. Lower 
California had its schools established 
by the Jesuits earlier than 1705. Most 
of this work, begun and continued so 
favorably, was ruined later in politi- 
cal troubles, but it is a tribute to the 
work of these early Franciscans that 



EDUCATION IN AMERICA. 



89 



the United States government, after 
experimenting for over a hundred 
years with the education of Indians, 
is today tending more and more to 
the adoption of methods used by 
these early missionary teachers. 

Establishments. 

New Orleans began its schools in 
1722, with the Capuchins in charge. 
The Ursuline Sisters, first in this 
country, came in 1727. In St. Louis 
a school was opened in 1774. Kas- 
kaskia, HI., and Mackinaw, Mich., 
schools were established by the Jesu- 
its previous to 1721. Detroit had 
schools previous to 1703. Maine 
opened its first school in 1640 ; Mary- 
land in 1634, with Father White, a 
Jesuit, in charge of its first school, 
at Newton. The first college came 
in 1677. New York began Catholic 
education in 1684, at the corner of 
Broadway and Wall St. Philadel- 
phia followed in 1730. Kentucky and 
Indiana fell in line in 1790. The Trap- 
pists and Dominicans opened schools 
in Ohio and Kentucky, in 1807. High 
schools and academies for young 
women began in 1802 in Detroit. 
The Poor Clares came to Maryland 
in 1792, the Visitation Sisters replac- 
ing them in 1799 in the educational 
work. The Sisters of Charity, under 
Mother Seton, began work in 1808 in 
Baltimore, and by 1850 were located 
in sixty different centers of industry 
throughout the country. Loretto 
Sisters began teaching in Kentucky 
in 1805. The Sisters of St. Dominic, 
in 1882, organized schools in New 
York. The Ursulines came to New 



York from Ireland in 1812. The 
Brothers began teaching in 1828. 
Pittsburgh had its first school in 1811. 
Boston opened its school with the Ur- 
sulines for teachers in 1820. Mercy 
Sisters organized in Baltimore in 1830. 
The Jesuits came to Florissant, Mis- 
souri, in 1823. New Orleans had a 
college in 1820. The Sacred Heart 
Sisters arrived in St. Louis in 1818, 
the Visitation Sisters in 1833; St. Jo- 
seph Sisters in 1834. The Colored 
Sisters, Oblates of Providence, or- 
ganized in 1829, and another colored 
community came to the front in 1842. 
The Christian Brothers located in 
New Orleans in 1816. Arkansas 
opened schools in 1833; Dakota in 
1818; Illinois and Iowa in 1832. In- 
diana had Sisters in 1824 ; Chicago in 
1834, with Father St. Cyr as first 
pastor; had a church, a school and 
four hundred parishioners. Today 
there are 202 parish schools within 
the city limits. 

Present Day Status. 

The schools show the pace kept 
with the remarkable growth of the 
country. Everywhere are they to be 
found. Every diocese has them; in 
fact, in many places, when a new 
parish is formed, the first building 
is a school . This is the practice in 
the leading cities. 

Today there are in the United States 
more than six thousand parochial 
schools, with over 20,000 teachers, 
mostly Sisters, caring for over one 
and one-half million pupils, at an an- 
nual cost of $36,000,000. Chicago 
alone has 136,000 children in 300 



90 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



schools, saving the city more than 
$2,500,000 annually. New York has 
more than one hundred schools, with 
proportionate attendance. The total 
value of property involved is more 
than one hundred million dollars, with 
an annual expenditure of about fif- 
teen millions. This does not take 
count of nearly sixty thousand or- 
phans educated in 285 orphanages 
by over one thousand Sisters, the out- 
lay being assumed by the various 
communities in charge. 

In higher education there are about 
one hundred and fifty institutions for 
the boys, while nearly five hundred 
are given over to the care of young 
women. About sixty of the colleges 
educate young men for the priesthood 
and the learned professions. There 
are some ten Catholic universities, 
notably the Catholic University at 
Washington, Georgetown, Notre 
Dame, Ind., Loyola and DePaul Uni- 
versities, Chicago ; and there are 
some fifteen Seminaries, many of 
them Diocesan, although others are 
far reaching and date far back in the 
history of education, numbering many 
hundreds of priests throughout the 
country among their alumni. 

Universities. 

The leading Catholic Universities 
in the United States in recent years 
were : Georgetown University with 197 
teachers, 1,628 students; Marquette 
University, with 240 teachers, 1,670 
students; St. Louis University, with 
252 teachers, 1,471 students ; Fordham 
University, with 154 teachers, 1,626 
students; Creighton University, with 



150 teachers, 1,232 students; The 
Catholic University, with 85 teachers, 
1,307 students ; Notre Dame Univers- 
ity with 90 teachers, 1,150 students; 
De Paul University, Chicago, with 
40 teachers, 1,000 students ; Loyola 
University, Chicago, with about the 
same number. All these universities 
fbund greatly increased attendance 
in the years following the war. 

Libraries. 

Georgetown University possesses 
the largest Catholic library, 153,000 
volumes; Notre Dame University has 
85,000 volumes. The Catholic Uni- 
versity has 75,000 volumes ; Fordham 
University has 74,000 volumes ; St. 
Louis University has 74,512 volumes ; 
Marquette University has 13,000 and 
Creighton University 48,000 volumes. 

School Support. 

The Catholic Directory for 1914-15 
estimates that more than fifty-five 
and a quarter million dollars are 
saved annually to the United States 
by Catholics who also bear their share 
of supporting their own schools. Dr. 
Burns in his "Growth and Develop- 
ment of the Catholic School System," 
(p. 293) says that the average ex- 
pense per child in the Catholic Paro- 
chial Schools may be set at eight 
dollars. As this is a conserva- 
tive estimate, using Dr. Burns' fig- 
ures and making allowance for dif- 
ference of time, the rate per head in 
1920 would be nearer ten than eight 
dollars. In a rough estimate we find 
that it cost $12,230,109 to maintain 
our school system in 1912-13. 



EDUCATION IN AMERICA. 



91 



The rate per head for the public 
schools for the same year was $34.71, 
the difference being accounted for in 
large salaries, text books, expensive 
equipment, etc. 

There are 6258 Parochial schools 
registered in the Directory, with 
1,852,498 children enrolled, also there 
are about 950 High Schools and 
Acadamies, 211 colleges and twenty 
Universities. 

Non-Religious Schools. 

"Bird S. Coler, a non-Catholic, for- 
mer President of the Borough of 
Brooklyn, and author, among other 
works, of that very remarkable book, 
'Two and Two Make Four,' was the 
orator at the Flag Day celebration 
in Lawrence, Mass., some years ago. 
The event commemorated a previous 
procession of 30,000 residents of that 
city in protest against the socialistic 
display of the flag with the motto, 
'No God; No Master,' banned in 
Boston by Mayor Fitzgerald, and lat- 
er banned through the state by a spe- 
cial legislative enactment. 

"Mr. Coler dwelt on the alarming- 
progress of Socialism in the United 
States, and he declared that we Ameri- 
cans are aiding its growth by main- 
taining Public Schools in which re- 
ligion may not be taught. We shall 
let Mr. Coler develop his own thought, 
for no paraphrase could do him jus- 
tice. He said : 

" 'We are turning out of these 
Public Schools, for which we pay so 
much money, graduates who believe 
that science has demolished religion, 
whose whole training has been given 



with the object of preparing them 
for material success. 

" 'Their idea of life is false. Their 
idea of science is false. Even in the 
secular and practical things of life 
they lack the thoroughness and pro- 
ficiency of the graduates of a gen- 
eration ago. 

" 'We must reintroduce a religion 
into our educational system, if we 
are to have a righteous nation and 
to stand up against this red tide. 

" 'There has been opposition, on 
the ground that we are denomina- 
tionally divided, but a plan has been 
proposed so just and so simple that 
I cannot understand the prejudice 
against it. 

" 'Let every creed control its own 
schools, and if it gives sufficient edu- 
cation to pass an examination by the 
state regents on secular subjects, then 
let the state pay per capita for the 
education of each child so educated. 
Let even the agnostics maintain their 
own educational institutions ; let there 
be no injustice to any class or any 
creed. 

" 'Then we shall have an American 
people increasing in righteousness and 
justice and redeeming the fair pledge 
that was set in the heavens when first 
our glorious American flag was un- 
folded to the breeze." 

"Mr. Coler is a Methodist, but he 
asks no favor for his own denomina- 
tion which he would not grant to all 
other religious bodies. He fears not 
to accuse us of being so short-sighted 
as to turn ' our great educational fund 
into a war chest for the Socialist 
Party.' Surely the dog-in-the-man- 



92 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



ger policy which has made such an 
accusation possible is unpatriotic as 
well as un-Christian. Catholics build 
their own schools, and pay taxes for 
the state schools. We believe that 
our children and our country are 
worth the sacrifice. Mr. Coler's 
words will doubtless make our friends 
the various non-Catholic denomina- 
tions think whether or not our costly 
public education yields a satisfactory 
return on the investment." 

The Public Schools. 

* * * Years ago when the advocates 
of parental rights in the matter of ed- 
ucation were arguing against the in- 
cipient encroachments of the State, 
they prophesied that the processes 
then begun would infallibly lead to 
Communism or Socialism. They were 
laughed at for their pains. * * * We 
have passed far beyond their forebod- 
ings. Not only have we free schools, 
but free books, free lunch, free 
clothes and free transportation. * * * 
In the schools the State inoculates the 
children against small-pox, insures 
them against toothache, examines 
them for eye strain, searches their in 
ward parts for adenoids, and if their 
little interiors escape the State Sur- 
geon's knife, it is because the unfor- 
tunate infants are void and empty. 
Then there are trained nurses to in- 
spect the food, to supervise their di- 
gestion, to feel their pulse, to test 
their sputum, to label their bugs. * * 
There is a maid to comb the children's 
hair, to wash their faces, to clean 
their teeth, to pare their nails, to but- 



ton their frocks and to tie their shoes. 
* * * * The long arm of the all-com- 
pelling pedagogue has reached out 
into the playground, not only in 
school-time, but after school. * * * * 
The children are herded into so- 
called playgrounds, tagged, meas- 
ured, weighed and card-catalogued. 
All the natural spontaneity of play 
has disappeared. The children are 
automata, the corpora vilia for the 
experiments of scientists whose re- 
searches have never been equalled 
since Gullivar in his travels hap- 
pened upon the philosophers in his 
travels. 

"The school-house is to be an agri- 
cultural Experiment Station, a Co- 
operative Store, a Town Hall, a Peo- 
ple's Club, a Theatre, a Branch Li- 
brary, a Public Employment Bureau, 
a Health Office, a Dental Dispensary, 
a Headquarters for School Nurses, a 
Pure Milk Depot, an Art Gallery, a 
Voting Booth, a Concert Hall, a Bill- 
iard Boom and a Restaurant. * * * * 

"The Parochial School stands as a 
monument to the conviction of Catho- 
lic parents that on them God has laid 
the primary obligation of educating 
their children. * * * * 

"Let us not be dazzled by the pomp 
and circumstance of secular schools 
that lay tribute on public funds." 

"The Church, the School, and the 
Home," by Rev. P. C. Yorke, S. D., 
California. 

Educational Vaudeville. 

"This irrational irrelevant medley, 
this educational vaudeville, must be 
absorbed unconsciously by children 



EDUCATION IN AMERICA. 



93 



roused to interest by the sustained 
enthusiasm of their teachers, whom 
may Heaven Help ! If the programme 
is not full enough, it can be varied 
by lectures on sex-hygiene, lessons in 
woodcraft, (with reference to boy 
scouts) and pictures illustrating the 
domestic habits of the house-fly," 
concludes Miss Agnes Repplier in At- 
lantic Monthly, January, 1914, after 
enumerating what she calls a "riot of 
facts and theories, of art and nature, 
of science and sentiment which the 
Public School is expected to reduce 
into an orderly, consistent and practi- 
cal system of education." 

Defects in System. 

Katherine Fullerton Gerould seems 
to be a rather cold admirer of our 
public schools, for in the October 
(1915) Atlantic Monthly she delivers 
her opinion of them in this wise : 

Each class that comes into college 
has read fewer and fewer of what 
are called the classics of English lit- 
erature. An astounding number of 
boys and girls read nothing worth 
reading except the books that are in 
the entrance apartments. An increas- 
ing proportion of the sons and daugh- 
ters of the prosperous are positively 
illiterate at college age. They can- 
not spell, they cannot express them- 
selves grammatically ; and they are in- 
clined to think that it does not mat- 
ter. General laxity, and the adoption 
of educational fads which play havoc 
with real education, are largely re- 
sponsible. In the less fortunate class- 
es, the fact seems to be that the pub- 
lie schools are so swamped by foreign- 



ers that all the teachers can manage 
to do is to teach the pupils a little 
workable English. Needless to say, 
the profession of the public school 
teacher has become less and less 
tempting to people who are really 
fit for it. ********* * Modern 
languages rank Latin and Greek in 
our schools and colleges ; practical and 
"vocational" training is displacing 
the rudiments of learning in all of our 
public and many of our private in- 
stitutions for the teaching of the 
young ; the books admitted to the lists 
of "literature" include many that 
never have been and never will be 
literature. ********** 

Standards of beauty and truth are 
no longer rigidly held up. In phi- 
losophy we have produced pragma- 
tism; in all we have produced futur- 
ism — and what not since then? — in 
literature we have produced the path- 
ologic and the economic novel and 
no poverty worth speaking of. The 
"grand style" has gone out; and the 
classics are back numbers. Our chil- 
dren do not even speak good English ; 
and no one minds. ThSy cannot be 
bored with poetry at all. And why 
should they, when their fathers and 
mothers are reading "Laddie" and 
"The Sick-a-Bed Lady," and their 
clergymen are preaching about "The 

Inside of the Cup"? 

# # » # 

If a Catholic wrote in that fashion 
about the public schools a hundred 
zealous ministers would rush to their 
defense. But the author, it will be 
observed, does not touch upon the 
chief defect of the system. The de- 



94 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



feet which, has made Catholic schools 
rise by hundreds throughout the land, 
viz., the exclusion of God and re- 
ligion. 

The Drive on the Catholic School. 

In several states of the Union, vic- 
ious and unscrupulous enemies of the 
Church are urging the enactment of 
laws to destroy the parochial school. 
Much to the shame of their honest 
and straightforward citizens, Michi- 
gan, Minnesota, Nebraska, Missouri, 
Florida, Oklahoma and California 
have been sorely harassed by these 
professional bigots who at a time 
when harmony and concord are most 
needed are striving to enkindle the 
baleful fires of hatred. Although 
a standing menace to American ideals 
of political and religious liberty, their 
machinations, utterly devoid of hon- 
esty and common decency, seem to 
have placed them in a position from 
which, under cover of law, they can 
put an end to every school in which 
the name of the Saviour is spoken 
with reverence. 

This was the situation met by Cath- 
olics in the period of reconstruction 
after the war. In most states at- 
tempt was made to amend the con- 
stitution enforcing attendance at 
public school during the school age. 

Backward Children. 

Becently, the attention of the pub- 
lic has been drawn to the matter of 
caring for the education of certain 
children, who are backward in the 
usual courses of school instruction. 
This is not a new experience. Back- 
ward children are not an exclusive 



product of this later age. But more 
than usual attention to the subject 
has been given by those experimental 
educators who measure all things and 
beings by one set of rules. There are 
uniform tests made in the schools by 
which the mentality of youngsters is 
measured. One of them, perhaps the 
best known, is called the Binet-Simon 
test. Whatever may be -said for it, 
as outlined by the originators, or in 
the hands of persons of good judg- 
ment and much experience, the fact 
remains that it is too frequently at 
fault. This is due, no doubt, to the 
too evident desire of the educators to 
establish a single standard for all 
backward children. As a matter of 
fact, all, or nearly all examination 
methods are at fault in this respect. 
They do not make sufficient allow- 
ance for the individual. And any 
such tests, no matter however well- 
calculated, can easily go wrong in 
the hands of those who do not make 
sufficient allowance, if any, for the 
fact that no two human beings are 
created alike. 

Modern education tends toward 
this idea of treating all alike. Social 
science in so many forms makes the 
same mistake. Those applying the 
tests do not allow for individuality, or 
at least not sufficiently so. Mis- 
chievous or restless children are found 
wanting in mentality when the fault 
lies in the disposition. Too often 
hasty conclusions are drawn which 
may seriously affect the future of the 
child. Some individuals may be 
standardized, the well-behaved medi- 
ocre children, for instance. But oth- 



EDUCATION IN AMERICA. 



95 



ers, just as promising, cannot be 
measured in this way. There are too 
many departures from what is called 
the eminently desirable element of 
human nature. Backward children 
may not be classed as "desirable" 
during this unfortunate phase of their 
careers, but there is no certainty that 
this backwardness is to continue, or 
even to affect the future of the child. 
Only a mistake made by the child's 
natural guardians or instructors at 
this stage will do that. But children 
should not suffer at this time for 
something they cannot help, because 
their temporary deficiency demands 
more time and attention from the 
teacher and some study and thought 
from the parents. 

There are many instances of back- 
ward children who develop some sud- 
den efflorescence of ability in later 
life, usually about the age of six- 
teen, eighteen or twenty. At this 
time they are enabled, not only to 
catch up, but even to surpass their 
companions, showing talent in so 
many cases which quite approaches 
genius. We have all known such in- 
stances. Sir "Walter Scott is an ex- 
ample. Of him his teacher despaired, 
pronouncing him "incorrigible, idle, 
and utterly refusing to work. ' ' Some 
of our best thinkers and most suc- 
cessful men have gone through this 
experience, when, either because they 
would not, or could not, rouse them- 
selves, they gave every sign of back- 
wardness and even stupidity. Every 
teacher, of long experience especially, 
has endured the sensation of realizing 
a mistake when some dull disinterest- 



ed child becomes the success of the 
entire class in later development. Nor 
are these cases as rare as some imag- 
ine. They are to be found every- 
where. Teachers, led by the experi- 
ence of intelligent manipulators of 
such tests as the one outlined above, 
or directed by their own good judg- 
ment and real love of child life, are 
taking the backward element always 
into account. They are making few- 
er mistakes in the discouragement of 
youths, who for different reasons may 
not yet have reached the proper stim- 
ulus to effort. They are learning 
something of the difficulties of the 
backward child, boys for the most 
part, and their patient handling of 
each case and their attention to char- 
acter building invariably brings good 
results later in life. Catholic educa- 
tors are especially interested in this 
hindrance to youthful development. 
The Brothers and the Priests of the 
religious communities who train boys 
in college and high school life, are 
particularly successful in their meth- 
ods. And many successful men of 
today thank their good teachers for 
their evolution from a state of stag- 
nation, offering nothing but discour- 
agement and a stunted outlook, into 
the proper channel of activity in life. 

Parents' Duty. 

Parents will do well to consider 
the case of the backward child. Too 
often, the boy, especially, is hustled 
off to work when he shows signs of 
difficulty in school affairs. If he 
does not seem to mature properly and 
to advance as fast as the neighboring 



96 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



boys, he is blamed. Something seems 
to retard his progress. With the best 
intentions in the world, the boy finds 
that he has to work a great deal hard- 
er than others in his class in order 
to accomplish the same result. If 
he grows discouraged and falls back 
in his work, he is lost. In either case 
he is blamed and he feels that he is 
not guilty of anything that calls for 
it. He is doing his best, and he re- 
sents the scolding, becoming gradual- 
ly stubborn and unresponsive. The 
result is, he is taken from school and 
put to work, and a promising career 
in some special line is lost to the 
world. A boy may become difficult 
to manage at this crisis in his life, and 
develop bad habits that bring about 
his ruin. And the parents should not 
forget that the only methods to em- 
ploy at such times are those of the 
perplexed educators who work along 
Catholic lines of thought ,and strive 
to reach him through the heart. Male 
teachers better understand the boy 
nature, especially in the years of later 
development. Parents should adopt 
their methods in striving to retain 
the love of the boy, making direct ap- 
peal to his heart. He is naturally 
sensitive and responsive. Even bad 
and wilful boys have the tenderest 
hearts hidden away somewhere, per- 
haps beneath the crust of pride of 
boyish diffidence. It is the parents' 
business to get at the boy's heart, 
trusting him, sympathising with him 
when in difficulty, showing him that 
they are working for his good. There 
are many ways of showing love for 
the growing boy without effusive 



demonstration. There is a practical 
demonstration of affection which 
works better. The main thing is not 
to permit your boy to drift away from 
you, to rule him always, but to rule 
him through the heart. 

Co-Education. 

The idea of educating the sexes to- 
gether is a practice which is current 
in this country to a greater extent 
than exists elsewhere. This blending 
of male and female influences in edu- 
cation is something which is advo- 
cated by many teachers as produc- 
tive of the best results. Catholic 
opinion on the subject does not go so 
far as that. In practice, co-education 
is not to be found in Catholic educa- 
tional circles beyond the grades of the 
parish school. In some cases other 
methods apply even in these schools. 
Colleges, academies and high schools 
under Catholic auspices find that bet- 
ter results are to be gained by the 
separation of the sexes and are uni- 
formly adherent to this method. Boys 
advance better under the daily influ- 
ence of trained and efficient male re- 
ligious teachers, while the sisters can 
direct girls better than any others. 
There is not a single instance of real 
mistake made in the character build- 
ing of the Brothers or of the Priests 
who train the Catholic youth. They 
exercise an influence to be found no- 
where except in the Catholic college 
or High School under their direction. 
Thousands of graduates everywhere 
testify to this and point to their ex- 
perience with these efficient teach- 
ers as a turning point in life, voicing 



EDUCATION IN AMERICA. 



97 



on so many different occasions the es- 
teem in which they still hold them 
after many years of separation. 

Boarding Schools. 

There are different ideas upon this 
subject, which eventually make it 
either a matter of necessity or of pref- 
erence. Nearly all the religious 
teaching orders arrange for both fea- 
tures. Many favor the day-school, be- 
cause of the loss of home influences, 
yet there is no doubt that there is 
something especially to be derived 
from boarding school life which makes 
for independence and manliness. 
Writers on both sides of the question 
are many. It is a matter of adopting, 
as Father Gerard, S. J., puts it, "the 
best methods of the age in which we 
live. ' ' And one 's own opinion backed 
by the experience of sensible educa- 
tors is quite sufficient for any such 
settlement. 

The Catholic Educational Association. 

An association of Catholic educa- 
tors, men and women who have de- 
voted their lives to the development 
of instructive thought and its appli- 
cation in their work, is that the Catho- 
lic Educational Association. Begun 
many years ago, it now has been in 
annual convention for thirteen years. 
Each year sees progress made in the 
adaptation of up-to-date ideas in 
Catholic instructions. Specialists in 
every branch of education gather for 
the purpose of furthering the work, 
and in this gathering of the brightest 
minds of the Church there is certainty 
of the continued progress of our Cath- 



olic institutions. 

The Rt. Rev. T. J. Shahan, D. D., rec- 
tor of the Catholic University is presi- 
dent General. The Very Reverend J. A. 
Burns, C. S. C, Washington, Right 
Reverend Msgr. P. R. McDevitt, Phil- 
adelphia, Very Reverend E. R. Dyer, 
Baltimore, are Vice-Presidents. Rev- 
erend Francis Howard, LL. D., Co- 
lumbus, 0., is Secretary, and Rever- 
end Francis T. Moran of Cleveland 
is Treasurer. 

Among the prominent educators 
who are active in promoting the good 
of the association are Very Reverend 
T. E. Shields, Ph. D., Washington; 
Reverend Dr. M. Schumacher, Notre 
Dame, Ind. ; Reverend J. V. McGuire, 
C. L. V., Bourbonnais, 111. ; I. H. 
Haaren, NewYork City; Reverend P. 
Francis Bradley, Fall River, Mass. ; 
Brother Callixtus, F. S. C; Prof. W. 
J. MeAuliff e, New York ; Reverend A. 
J. Muntsch, St. Louis; Miss Annie L. 
Townsend, Irvington, Md. ; Reverend 
Eugene Gehl, St. Francis, Wis. ; 
Brother Azarias, Buffalo, N. Y. ; Miss 
Mary Milloy, Winona, Wis. ; Very 
Reverend J. P. O'Mahony, Bourbon- 
nais, 111. ; Brother Gordian, F. S. C. ; 
Brother John Garvin, Baltimore ; 
Right Reverend Msgr. Peterson, Bos- 
ton; Father Corcoran, St. Louis; 
Father Hickey, Boston. 

Among the resolutions passed at 
one convention, which epitomize the 
aims and objects of the association is 
the following: — "The American 
Catholic school system stands for 
thoroughgoing and complete Ameri- 
canism, with undivided allegiance to 
our country from all, whatever sym- 



98 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



pathies they may legitimately enter- 
tain for the land of their ancestors. 
This is the spirit of our Catholic peo- 
ple, as well as of our schools, and any 
individual deviation from it is an in- 
jury, to our Church and State." 

The Gary Plan Of Education. 

The public school is the breeding 
ground for theories in education. It 
is a system which affords opportunity 
for experiments in so many different 
ways. Most of the theories advanced 
have been shamefacedly withdrawn 
after a very short trial. Some have 
endured with indifferent success. But 
until Paul "Wirt, in the growing town 
of Gary. HI., appeared with his plan 
of the "study-work-play" school, per- 
haps nothing more widely advertised 
has ever been known. 

Mr. Wirt is not original in his sug- 
gestions . All schools attempt to in- 
clude the elements of study and play 
and work in their efforts. And many 
of his ideas are drawn directly from 
European systems. For instance, in 
the German Gymnasium, and in the 
French Lyceum, there was to be found 
the idea of sending children of a par- 
ticular religious demonination at a 
certain time, with the consent of par- 
ents, of course, to their own religious 
instructor as arranged by the church 
itself. Mr. Wirt believes that op- 
portunities for religious instruction 
could and should be found for the 
children along some such lines as men- 
tioned, and he encouraged the par- 
ticular churches to arrange to receive 
the children at convenient times. Pri- 
vate teachers of music were also al- 



lowed this privilege. Opportunities 
for visiting museums, art galleries 
were arranged regularity. He wanted 
to "use every valuable factor in the 
community to help in educating the 
child." 

Mr. Wirt is not original in such 
suggestion, but he deserves credit for 
arranging the proper proportions of 
time for work and play, and for the 
enlarged facilities for the exercise of 
these activities. Some hitherto neg- 
lected factors in education have been 
utilised by him. And he differs from 
many educators in the application of 
many principles which are held in 
common. His is a method of unifying 
forces and it might not lose very much 
of its distinctive character by the fact 
that it requires a special and some- 
what unusual school equipment. 

The objections to his plan include 
the statement that such a program 
gives insufficient recognition to the 
fundamental subjects of primary edu- 
cation, the three "R's. " But in real- 
ity the Gary plan gives as much, if not 
more, time to these subjects as is de- 
voted in the ordinary public school 
curriculum. The other activities are 
made possible by added daily periods, 
for the Gary school is in session six 
or seven hours. Then, there is the 
double use of class-rooms. Half of the 
pupils may be busy in the class-room, 
while the other half is distributed 
through the work-shops in manual 
training, on the play-grounds and in 
the auditorium. 

The Gary Plan claims many things 
which have not yet been tested suf- 
ficiently to satisfy professional opin- 



EDUCATION IN AMERICA. 



99 



ion. First, it makes use of all the 
educational factors in the community, 
in or outside the school buildings. Sec- 
ond, there are twice as many classes 
as class-rooms, the arrangement be- 
ing made possible by the use of the 
shops, library, gymnasium, auditorium 
and recreation places with set periods 
in each, and if desired, religious in- 
struction in the churches perferred. 
Third, it provides a longer school-day. 
Fourth, it includes prevocational 
work. Fifth, it teaches science in 
earlier grades. Sixth, it endeavors to 
make school attractive by varied ar- 
rangement of work, study and play. 
Seventh, it encourages teachers to 
specialise more than usual in certain 
work. Eighth, it improves the present 
academic course by making it more 
practical. Ninth, it removes the 
children in large cities from doubtful 
surroundings by occupying the time 
more profitably. 

Interest in the Gary Plan, from a 
Catholic standpoint, attaches to the 
fact that Mr. Wirt is the first edu- 
cator in the Public School system to 
favor and introduce religion into 
the school curriculum. True, the 
teaching of religion takes place out- 
side the school building and at 
best it is placed on a level with rec- 
reation, manual training and the like, 
yet it is recognition of the fact that 
after all religion has its place in edu- 
cation. It is a ray of light from a 
source that endeavors to be Godless, 
and indeed almost convinces itself 
that it succeeds in doing so. At pres- 
ent writing there remain few schools 



in which the Gary plan receives en- 
couragement. 

The Montessori Methods. 

Madam Montessori is a lady who 
has lately come to this country with 
some theories on the matter of child- 
training. Her visit had the result of 
arousing some enthusiasm among the 
exponents of kindergarten methods, 
since the lady's theories concern this 
stage of child-progress. Settlement 
houses in New York and Chicago have 
been prominent in exploiting the 
system, and have been more or less 
successful in spreading the impression 
that the Church condemns the 
methods employed, unofficially of 
course. The Jesuits, it was claimed 
prevented the establishment of a Mon- 
tessori school in Ireland. 

As a matter of fact there has been 
nothing in the way of condemnation at 
all. In an article in America, Novem- 
ber 15, '15, a prominent Jesuit gives 
the lady high praise saying that "few 
methods of teaching make better use 
of the child's instinct for play. Few 
catch the young imagination more 
easily or hold it more firmly. Fewer 
still are more insistent on the neces- 
sity of directing childish whims into 
ethical channels. Many of her methods 
are admirable for the practical turn 
which they give to the important 
truths of child pyschology, although 
these methods are defective in some 
essential details." 

Father O'Connor in summing up 
the Montessori system states that 
while the lady occupies high place 
among the teachers of the little ones, 
yet when she separates speculation 



100 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



from practice and begins to philoso- 
phize she shows that she neither un- 
derstands the problems at issue nor 
their bearing on practical life. Her 
philosophy is false and in fact con- 
tradition to the plans and devices ex- 
plained in her own volume on the sub- 
jects. Madam Montessori forgets the 
iesson of man's essential freedom of 
will, well-intentioned as she is, and 
permits herself to be beguiled into an 
absurd determinism which makes vir- 
tue and vice and character depend 
upon our organism. 

Her system has to do with methods 
of child training, where she intro- 
duces ideas of play and games from 
which lessons can be given and in- 
struction drawn by skilfull teachers 
who follow her principles. It is not 
condemned as a whole even by non- 
Catholic educators. Experienced 
teachers find in it a revival of excel- 
lent methods which have recently 
been overlooked. It has, for instance, 
revived the importance of appealing 
to the self-activity of childhood, of 
making use of the play instincts of 
children. But whatever good quali- 
ties may be found in the method do 
not at all justify the revolutionizing 
of our entire educational system. Mon- 
tessori ideas may modify kindergar- 
ten methods but that is the most that 
might resonably be claimed for the 
system. 

Non-Catholic Colleges — Dangerous 
to the Faith. 

In the foreword to his latest book, 
"The Education of Boys"— a series 
of letters on Christian education — 



Conde B. Pallen, Ph. D., LL. D., has 
this to say about the disastrous results 
of sending Catholic boys to Protestant 
educational institutions : 

"The unhappy practice of sending 
Catholic boys to non-Catholic educa- 
tional institutions has been waxing 
rather than waning. I know the an- 
cient excuse that there are exceptions, 
i. e., circumstances which justify the 
practice on the part of some parents, 
but when exceptions cease to prove 
the rule and begin to be the rule a- 
mong a certain type of Catholics, it 
should give us pause. Personally I 
have never met an exception that 
would bear analysis. When boiled 
down to the real ingredients, parental 
weakness or parental ambition proves 
generally to be the residue. Either 
the boy determines the choice out of 
his own immaturity and ignorance of 
danger, or the parent weighs a pseudo- 
worldly advantage over against 
the spiritual hazard and tips the beam 
against the Faith. If there be real 
exceptions, they are like the stories 
of the man-eating shark and the sea- 
serpent. I do not deny their possi- 
bility, but I am prone to skepticism. 

"When I look at results I see dis- 
aster as the rule. It is a rare and 
extraordinary boy who gets a non- 
Catholic education and remains 
staunch all through and always. 
Either the Faith is entirely lost or 
becomes so diluted that it disappears 
entirely in the second generation. As 
for the counter-charge, sometimes 
advanced by the advocates of the ex- 
ceptions, that even some Catholic 
boys who have received a Catholic 



EDUCATION IN AMERICA 



101 



education, abandon their faith in 
after years, I can only say that this 
unfortunately happens sometimes ; 
not, however, because they have re- 
ceived a Catholic education, but in 
spite of their Catholic education. 
Some well-trained boys afterwards 
become criminals in spite of their ex- 
cellent home and school training. 
It would be foolish to advocate the 
abolition of the Ten Commandments, 
because some people who have been 
reared under discipline, refuse in 
later life to observe them. 

"The singular notion is sometimes 
entertained that education is like a 
man's apparel, an external adorn- 
ment, whose fashion constitutes its 
value. Education is not only more 
than his skin; it belongs to the mar- 
row of his being. It is the making of 
his character, and has to do with the 
immortal and most intimate part of 
man's nature, his soul. The Church 
has always understood this, wherefore 
she fully realizes that religion is 
educative and education is religious, 
and that the natural fusing of the two 
in one makes a man to be what he 
ought to be, a completely balanced 
rational animal." — 

The Sisters College. 

The various teaching orders have 
arrangements by which they are en- 
abled to develop the higher education 
of their members. Such courses are 
adapted to needs and cirumstances. 
But everywhere there is opportunity 
given for the proper qualification of 
Catholic teachers. Each community 
the blessings of the Sisters' College 
extend to all parts of the country and 



is prepared in an extensive course of 
study to properly equip its teachers 
before sending them out on the mis- 
sion. No matter what may have been 
the qualifications previous to entrance 
into the community strict attention is 
always given to this matter. Normal 
courses are arranged. Classes under 
direction of experienced and univer- 
sity trained teachers take the work 
up to the point where instruction in 
the universities is required. Only in 
rare cases do the sisters attend the 
secular universities, except perhaps 
in the summer courses or along special 
lines. Catholic universities are of 
sufficient number and of proper 
standing and equipment to supply 
educational needs where the sisters 
will not be the subjects of criticism. 

To fill a long-felt want among the 
sisters of the teaching orders, there 
has been established a Sisters College 
at the Catholic University at Washing- 
ton, and at Winona, Minn. These 
are institutions of recent establish- 
ment}, yet they have been growing rap- 
idly year by year. Up to the present 
time hundreds of Sisters, representing 
more than sixty communities and com- 
ing from forty States, have already 
received the blessings of this training, 
and thousands of Sisters have been 
in attendance at the summer sessions. 
When the Sisters finish their work at 
the college they return to their com- 
munities in the different parts of the 
country and become the teachers of 
the younger Sisters who are prepar- 
ing for the school-room. In this way 
the standard of Catholic education is 
everywhere lifted up. 



102 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Why Catholic Schools? 

For what reason has the Catholic 
Church established a separate system 
of schools? is a question asked in the 
catechism of Catholic Education, is- 
sued by that department of the Nati- 
onal Catholic Welfare Council at 
Washington. 

A. For the following reasons : 
Because the Catholic Church is the 
divinely apointed custodian of the 
whole body of revealed religious 
truth and is charged with the duty of 
teaching it to all men and to all na- 
tions. "Going, therefore, teach all 
nations." To do this adequately, a 
separate system of schools in our 
country is necessary. 



Because the child is a moral agent, 
and his education must therefore be 
moral in the sense that it must recog- 
nize the fact that the child is endowed 
with an immortal soul and is answer- 
able to God for all his actions. 

Because will-training is looked 
upon by the Church as no less impor- 
tant in the educative process than 
physical or intellectual training. 

Because religious knowledge is it- 
self intrinsically valuable in the pro- 
cess of education. 

Because religious training is the 
best training for a citizen. 

Because the Church has, by positive 
law, made the establishment of 
schools a matter of religious policy. 



Bibliography. 

Writers and their works for more thorough reading of the mat- 
ter of this chapter are as follows: 

Right Rev. Bishop Spaulding, in Lecture; Rev. J. A. Burns, C. 
S. C, "Catholic School System;" Rev. M. J. O'Connor, S. J. in 
"America;" Rev. P. C. Yorke's, "The Church, The School, and The 
Home;" Christian Education, O'Connell; Katherine Fullerton 
Gerould in Atlantic Monthly, Oct. 15; Christian Education, Father 
Becker; Christian Pedagogy, Rev. P. A. Halpin; John Gilmary 
Shea, History; Dr. Lawrence Flick; Agnes Repplier, in "The Atlantic 
Monthly"; Bird S. Coler's "Two and Two Make Four" and Lecture; 
H. F. Wright, Catholic University; National Education Society, 
'89, Report; Conde B. Pallen, L. L. D., "Education of Boys." 



CHAPTER V. 

Catholic Reading and Press. 

Present Day Editors— Old Catholic Papers and Periodicals— Readers of Re- 
ligious Papers— Catholic Papers— Improper Publications— What Catholics Should 
Read— Decadent Magazines— Good Books — Training the Child— A Catholic Home 
Library— Catholic Authors— American Writers— Some Splendid Books— Protestant- 
izing Catholic Books— The Index of Forbidden Books— What It Forbids— How Books 
Are Put on the Index — General Rules — Responsibility of Parents — The Funnies- 
Sensational News — Defamers of the Church. 



In an Article published in the ' ' Ex- 
tension" magazine, some years ago, the 
Rev. John Talbot Smith affirmed that 
the Catholic Press of to-day is a 
tame affair compared with the lively, 
forceful Journalism of seventy years 
ago. Warriors such as Bishop Eng- 
land, Archbishop Hughes, D'Arcy 
McGee, Orestes Brownson, John 
Mullay, Patrick Casserly, James A. 
McMaster and Eugene Casserly 
championed the Catholic cause and 
directed public opinion in those 
days. Emphatic measures were nec- 
essary to meet the tide of Know- 
Nothingism which threatened to en- 
gulf Catholicity, and Catholic editors 
rose to the occasion. There were 
writers like Patrick Donahue, of the 
"Pilot," John Boyle O'Reilly, Patrick 
Ford, James Jeffrey Roche, Messrs. 
Roddan, Boyce, Finnoti, Father Cron- 
in of the "Buffalo Union and Times," 
Mrs. M. A. Sadlier, John Gilmary 
Shea, Father Ryan of New Orleans, 
Father Lambert, Wm. A. King, Father 
Phelan of St. Louis, Geo. D. Wolf, 
Manly Tello, Charles O'Malley, Wm. 



H. Hughes, John J. 'Shea and Father 
Smith himself, who made their mark, 
and whose work the older generation 
of to-day recalls with pleasure. 
Present Day Writers. 
But it is not clear that our earlier 
Catholic journalistic efforts were su- 
perior to those of to-day. Although 
a different style prevails, the men in 
charge of the Catholic press these 
latter days will compare very well 
for brilliancy and efficiency with their 
predecessors. Witness Maurice Francis 
Egan, later Minister to Denmark, T. 
A. Daly, formerly of the "Philadelphia 
Standard and Times ' ' ; Father Shan- 
non of the Chicago "New World"; 
Father Hecker of the "Catholic 
World"; Conde B. Pallen; Monsignor 
Kelley of the ' ' Extension Magazine ' ' ; 
Monsignor Noll of the "Sunday Vis- 
itor;" Miss Agnes Repplier, a brilliant 
essayist; the Jesuit Fathers, who edit 
"America," The Catholic National 
Weekly; Arthur Preuss, of the "Fort- 
nightly Review ' ' ; Humphrey Desmond, 
Milwaukee Citizen, Katherine Conway 
of the "Pilot;" Rev. Daniel E. Hudson 



104 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



of the "Ave Maria"; Elizabeth Jordan 
"Harpers"; P. J. Coleman, Philadel- 
phia ; Dr. Lawrence Flick, active in 
Catholic daily work; Miss Katherine 
Bregy; L. H. Wetmore, Nic Gonner 
and a host of others. 

Among the women prominent in 
Catholic newspaper work are : Marie 
Louise Points, "Morning Star", New 
Orleans ; Josephine B. Sullivan Conlon, 
"Detroit Catholic", recently de- 
ceased; Anna C. Minogue, Tele- 
graph", Cincinnati; Katherine Con- 
way, "Pilot & Republic", Boston; 
Honor Walsh, Standard and Times; 
Miss 'Sullivan, "Sacred Heart Re- 
view"; and many others. 

Old Catholic Papers. 

A fairly accurate list of the oldest 
existing English speaking Catholic 
papers in North America would be : 

Catholic Telegraph, Cincinnati, 1831 ; 
Boston Pilot, 1837 ; Pittsburg Catholic, 
1843; The Casket, Nova Scotia, 1852; 
The Monitor, San Francisco, 1857 ; 
Western Watchman, St. Louis, 1865 ; 
North West Chronicle, 1868 ; Morning 
Star, New Orleans, 1868 ; Catholic 
Sentinel, Portland, 1869 ; Catholic Cit- 
izen, Milwaukee, 1870 ; Irish World, 
New York, 1870. 

Old Catholic Periodicals. 

The Truth Teller, 1825, was the first 
New York Catholic paper. The Irish 
Shield appeared in Philadelphia in 
1827. Boston had a paper in 1829. 
Patrick Donahoe succeeded to it in 
1837, developing the Pilot. The Cath- 
olic Diary came to New York in 1834, 
later absorbed by the Freeman's Jour- 
nal under Jas. A. McMaster in 1848. 



The Nation was established by D'Arcy 
McGee in 1848. 

Orestes Brownson published his 
Quarterly Review when he became a 
Catholic in 1845. 

Readers of Religious Papers. 

That more Catholics than Protestants 
read church papers is the conclusion 
arrived at by an investigation into the 
circulation of denominational papers 
made by members of the Disciples 
Church and reported to their organ, 
the Christian Century. We quote the 
statistics without vouching for their 
accuracy. In the territory of the 
Northern Baptist Convention, corres- 
ponding approximately to the North of 
our country, the investigators discov- 
ered sixty-nine Catholic weekly papers 
with a combined circulation of 944,462. 
In the same territory there are twelve 
Baptist papers with a circulation of 
75,569, four Congregational papers 
with 38,500 subscribers, four Disciple 
papers with 59,750 subscribers, five 
Presbyterian papers with 92,607 sub- 
scribers, and seventeen Methodist 
papers with 350,553 subscribers. In 
the south the investigation found there 
are fourteen Catholic papers with a 
total circulation of 137,898 ; four Bap- 
tist organs numbered 185,087 subscrib- 
ers ; seven Disciple papers, 65,750 ; 
five Presbyterian, 55,241, and eighteen 
Methodist papers, 180,529. There was 
no Congregational organ. The com- 
bined circulation, therefore, of the 
journals representing these leading 
Protestant denominations throughout 
the whole country, is 1,103,586, while 
Catholic papers are given a combined 
circulation of 1,082,360. 



CATHOLIC READING AND PRESS. 105 



Catholic Papers. 

The Catholic Press Association, an 
organization of long establishment, in 
the period following the war, joined 
forces with the Press Bureau of the 
National Catholic Welfare Council. 
This movement yields service by cable, 
telegraph and mail to some sixty weekly 
papers throughout the United States, 
and one daily, the pioneer, the Tribune 
of Dubuque, la. In recent years these 
papers report increased interest and 
development. Mostly tbey are con- 
trolled or supervised by the bishops 
of the dioceses tbey serve. 

Many Publications. 

More than three hundred Catholic 
periodicals are published in the United 
States. Only about thirty of these can 
be classed as widely known, that is, 
known beyond the limits of the dio- 
cese tbey serve. But almost every com- 
munity has its paper. 

About 201 of tbese publications are 
printed in English, 51 in German, 24 
in French, 24 in Polish. The balance 
are in other European languages, with 
the exception of one which appears in 
an Indian dialect. There are thirteen 
daily Catholic papers, but only one 
of them, the Tribune, Dubuque, is in 
English. Many cities have Irish pa- 
pers. Nearly all societies have official 
publications. 

Improper Publications. 

Catholics are bound in conscience to 
stop buying, and to induce others to 
stop buying, newspapers that tend to 
destroy respect for the Catholic Church 
or for morality. Above all, our homes 
must be kept free from any improper 
publications. 



But the next step is also necessary. 
Faith must be fed anew, not merely 
by prayer and the Sacraments, but by 
familiarity with the great truths of the 
Catholic creed. Wherefore spiritual 
reading is to-day an absolute necessity 
for everyone who honestly means to 
live a Catholic life. 

Beyond these things it is always in 
the power of some — perhaps of many 
who have never realized it — to lessen 
in a measure the more obvious evils 
that from time to time assert them- 
selves in the daily press. Remember, 
that as the newspaper lives by its read- 
ers — for advertising is dependent upon 
circulation — it is always possible to 
bring very direct pressure to bear upon 
the most offensive and most frequently 
offending publications. Stop buying 
them, and induce others to stop buy- 
ing them. No argument is more con- 
vincing to their conductors than lack 
of patronage — since lack of patronage 
causes financial loss. 

What Catholics Should Read. 

"We who glory in being children of 
the Catholic Church should certainly 
not patronize a press that is hostile to 
our faith, scoffs at our religion, and 
misrepresents the history and doctrines 
of Our Holy Mother. Let us show that 
we are Catholics, not in name only, 
.•at also in deed, by reading good and 
useiui books, periodicals and papei^ 
which will elevate our minds anu 
hearts above the degrading influences 
of the passions and the merely mater- 
ial. Experience proves that the best 
and most enlightened Catholics are un- 
doubtedly those who, banishing from 
their homes all that belittles their re- 



106 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



ligion and their church, are regular 
readers of Catholic books, periodical? 
and newspapers. Those Catholics are 
far better instructed in their religion, 
and have a more solid faith than those 
who do not patronize the Catholic press. 
Decadent Magazines. 

The "New York Times" recently 
printed in its "Literary Supplement," 
a correspondent's vigorous protest 
against "the objectionable type of 
stories that are appearing now in so 
many of the so-called 'popular' mag- 
azines." The writer is justly indig- 
nant with those editors who publish 
the "common, low type of story that 
aims in its first installment to shade 
off into perilous regions and then clev- 
erly (oh, so cleverly) recover itself 
and end on the high moral note." He 
laments that so few protests are heard 
against stories that are no better than 
"candy-coated pills of vice," for their 
authors, he says, suggest immorality 
"with an assumption of sanctity." 

Anyone at all familiar with the at- 
tractively printed and low priced mag- 
azines that are now sold from news- 
stands by thousands, will agree that 
these strictures are well deserved. High 
salaried illustrators, moreover, are paid 
to draw pictures for the stories of just 
the kind that the ' ' Times ' ' correspond- 
ent describes. Men and women of 
principle and refinement who would 
turn away in disgust from novels of 
coarse "realism," think it no harm 
to devour magazine stories which are 
only the more dangerous because their 
immorality is glossed over by the liter- 
ary skill and hypocrisy of the writers. 
Catholics cannot be too careful nowa- 



days about the magazines they admit 
to their homes. 

Good Books. 

"Too much stress cannot be laid on 
the importance of Catholic children 
growing up with a due appreciation of 
our best Catholic literature, past and 
present. The works of yesterday's 
Catholic writers lie unread because un- 
known, and the excellent books of many 
a Catholic author of to-day are dis- 
dainfully neglected just because they 
are not puffed and exploited as are 
the "best-sellers." For instance, take 
our poets. How many of our people 
have ever opened Southwell, Crashaw 
or Patmore? Or how many Catholics 
realize what a high place the late 
Francis Thompson or Mrs. Alice Mey- 
nell hold among modern lyricists? 
Why, we might inquire, is Winston 
Churchill read by Catholics, but not 
John Ayscough? Why are Arthur 
Benson's essays familiar to them, but 
not Agnes Repplier's? Why are 
Froude's or Motley's biased works 
called "standard histories," and Ling- 
ard's or Pastor's scholarly volumes 
seldom named ? Why should the ' ' En- 
cyclopedia Britannica" have access to 
Catholic homes from which "The Cath- 
olic Encyclopedia" is excluded? Why 
are J. Howard Moore 's dangerous books 
on pedagogy found on Catholic teach- 
er's desks from which Mother Stuart's 
"Education of Catholic Girls" and 
Father Swickerath's "Jesuit Educa- 
tion" are conspicuously absent? Why 
are vagaries of every evolutionist, from 
Darwin to McCabe familiar to so many 
Catholics who are strangers to the 
writings of Father Gerard, Dr. Dwight, • 



CATHOLIC READING AND PRESS. 107 



Dr. "Walsh, and Sir Bertram Windle? 
Why are Mrs. Humphrey Ward and 
Marie Corelli read by Catholics who 
never heard of the Dorseys, Eleanor C. 
Donnelly, Katherine Conway, Mary E. 
Mannix, Lady Georgiana Pullerton, 
Christian Eeid and a host of others? 
Why are the alluring pictures of So- 
cialism that Hilquit and Spargo paint 
believed by some Catholics to be a truer 
likeness of the system than that given 
by Vaughan, Eyan and Husslein ? Why, 
too .... but enough. More questions 
have already been asked than can be 
readily answered, though another long 
paragraph full of such pertinent 
"Why's" could easily be written. 

The practical conclusions to be drawn 
from the foregoing remarks and quer- 
ies are plain as day. Catholics must 
enter eagerly into their rich literary 
inheritance. It is only from the sys- 
tematic study of the world's best books 
that they can derive, to any great ex- 
tent, that discipline, breadth and re- 
finement of mind which are the marks 
of the well-educated. This love for 
good books should also be imparted to 
the young. Let parents then exercise 
a strict supervision over their chil- 
dren's reading, and give them oppor- 
tunities for cultivating a liking for 
good books. 

How to Train the Child in Reading. 

The problem of the Church is, how 
to instruct the young people. The 
only way to make book buyers is to 
build up book buyers, and to do that 
you must catch them very young. As 
one successful bookseller puts it, "If 
you can sell the children wholesome, 
worthwhile books of literary merit you 



are helping to develop a taste that 
eventually makes book buyers. Selling 
a poor grade of stories, however, makes 
not book buyers but book devourers, 
and on them the circulating libraries 
thrive. ' ' 

There are in this country over 
twenty-five million children of school 
age, that is, between five and eighteen 
years. When these children reach the 
years of mature discretion, will they 
be reading books of history, biography 
and science, and fiction that is real 
literature? A large part of the ju- 
venile army of school children is to-day 
either directly or indirectly patron- 
izing book stores ; how many of them 
will be steady customers in years to 
come? The answer depends largely 
upon the taste that their present read- 
ing is developing in them, and that fac- 
ulty demands — quite in the same meas- 
ure as every other intellectual gift — 
wise and careful training. It is need- 
less to state how large a part of this 
training is influenced by the exploita- 
tion of their books by booksellers. 
Apparently, too many of our American 
booksellers seem to be quite content to 
follow the way blazed by one of the 
tribe : " It may be poison, but it pays. ' ' 
A Suggestion for a Home Catholic 
Library. 

A competition held in England re- 
cently brought out an interesting list 
of books suggested by readers for Cath- 
olic home use. One hundred books was 
the limit ; the classification was as 
follows : 

1. Fifty Works of Fiction. 2. Ten 
Historical Works. 3. Ten Biographies. 
4. Ten Works of Devotion. 5. Six 



108 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Volumes of Poetry. 6. Fourteen mis- 
cellaneous works. 

More than two thousand books were 
mentioned but the books receiving the 
majority of votes in two of the above 
classes were as follows : 

Devotional — Imitation of Christ, 
Thomas a Kempis ; Holy Bible ; End 
of Controversy, Bishop Milner ; Devout 
Life, St. Francis de Sales; Catholic 
Belief, Rev. F. A. di Bruno ; Flowers of 
St. Francis of Assisi ; The Faith of Our 
Fathers, Cardinal Gibbons; Hidden 
Treasure, St. Leonard of Port Maurice. 

Historical — History of England, 
Eev. J. Lingard, D. D. ; The Eve of the 
Reformation, Cardinal Gasquet, D. D., 
0. S. B.; A Short History of the 
Catholic Church in England, Cardinal 
Gasquet, D. D., 0. S. B. ; Henry VII 
and the English Monasteries, Cardi- 
nal Gasquet, D. D., 0. S. B. ; A His- 
tory of Our Own Times, Justin Mc- 
Carthy; History of Ireland, Rev. E. 
A. D' Alton, LL. D., M. R. I. A.; 
A History of the Holy Eucharist in 
Great Britain, Rev. T. E. Bridgett, C. 
SS. R. ; The Formation of Christen- 
dom, T. W. Allies, K. C. S. G. ; Recol- 
lection of the Last Four Popes, Card- 
inal Wiseman ; The Dawn of the Catho- 
lic Revival in England, Mgr. Bernard 
Ward, F. R. 

Catholic Authors. 

The list is admirable and yet, so 
extensive is the field, and so numer- 
ous are good authors that many such 
lists might be compiled. For instance, 
in the Devotional Books, the "Spirit- 
ual Exercises of St. Ignatius" is 
missed. Father Faber has many other 
excellent works, Cardinal Vaughan, 



Msgr. de Segur might be represented as 
well as a number of American writers, 
whose works are easily procured. 

History opens the question of nation- 
al preference. England is preferred, 
because the idea originated in that 
country. But undoubtedly, Father 
Grisar's "Luther" should be added to 
the historical list. And Father Camp- 
bell's historical work should find 
place. 

Biography could include the lives of 
pioneer priests in America, to whom we 
owe so much ; the Lives of the Saints ; 
The Life of Jesus Christ by Fouard; 
and others. 

Poetry might include Mrs. Hemans; 
Adelaide Proctor, Thomas Moore, 
Francis Thompson, Aubrey de Vere ; 
and more than one of our excellent 
American poets, Father Abram J. 
Ryan, Father John B. Tabb, for in- 
stance. And Father Faber 's hymns 
surely deserve inclusion under this 
head. 

Fiction might enroll the best of the 
old country's writers: among them 
Father Benson, Canon Sheehan, John 
Ayscough, Lady Fullerton, Henry Har- 
land, Rene Bazin, Gerald Griffin. 
Among American writers in making a 
selection, the habit many people form 
of being true to the author they pre- 
fer, is excellent. When buying look 
for the following names not already 
represented : 

American Writers. 

Juvenile Works, Father Finn, Rev. 
J. C. Copus, S. J. 

Stories, by Richard Aumerle, Mary 
G. Bonesteel, Katherine E. Conway, 
Mary C. Crowley, Eleanor C. Donnelly, 



CATHOLIC READING AND PRESS. 109 



Anna H. Dorsey, Marion Crawford, 
Ella L. Dorsey, Maurice F. Egan, 
Katherine T. Hinkson, Grace Keon, 
Lady Amabel Kerr, Shiela Mahon, 
Mary E. Mannix, Rosa Mulholland, 
Clara Mulholland, Christian Reid, 
Henrietta Dana Skinner, Rev. John 
Talbot Smith, Anna T. Sadlier, Rev. 
H. S. Spaulding, Marion Ames Tag- 
art, Honor Walsh. 

These are only a few of our many 
excellent Catholic authors. A little 
study and your own reading exper- 
ience will show many more, equally 
as good, since selection is always a 
matter of taste. 

Some Splendid Books. 

"If a Catholic complacently remarks 
that Catholic stories are poor affairs," 
suggests the Rev. Francis J. Finn, S. 
J., "Just ask him whether he has read 
ten of the following books ' ', which com- 
pare favorably in Father Finn's opin- 
ion, "with the fiction output of the 
secular press : ' ' 

"The Tents of Wickedness", by 
Miriam Cole Harris: "By What Au- 
thority", by Father Benson; "My New 
Curate", by Canon Sheehan; San 
Celestino", by John Ayscough; "The 
Cardinal's Snuff-Box", "My Friend 
Prospero", and "The Lady Para- 
mount", by Henry Harland; "Great 
Possessions", by Mrs. Wilfrid Ward; 
"The Red-Handed Saint", by Kather- 
ine Parr ; ' ' The Mystery of the Priest 's 
Parlor", by Genevieve Irons; "The 
Far Horizon", by Lucas Malet; "The 
Nun", by Rene Bazin; "Back to the 
World", by M. Champol; "Marcella 
Grace", "The Wild Birds of Killevy", 



by Rose Mulholland; "Marzio's Cru- 
cifix", by F. Marion Crawford; "The 
Black Brotherhood", by Father Ger- 
rold; " Knocknagow", by Charles J. 
Kickham; "None Other Gods", by 
Father Benson ; ' ' Through the Desert", 
by Sienkiewicz; "Luke Delmege", 
"The Blindness of Dr. Gray," by Can- 
on Sheehan; "Solitary Island", and 
"A Woman of Culture", by Father 
John Talbot Smith; "Heirs in Exile", 
by Constance Le Plastrier; and "The 
Vocation of Edward Conway", by 
Maurice Francis Egan. 

To these might well be added the 
books of Father Finn himself, which 
children of an older growth also enjoy, 
as for example, "The Fairy of the 
Snows. ' ' 

Protestantizing Catholic Books. 

Making over Catholic books to suit 
Protestant readers is a bit of disingen- 
uousness (to put it mildly) of which 
not a few of our separated brethren 
are guilty. A correspondent of the 
"Living Church" (Protestant Episco- 
palian) manfully protests against a 
suggestion made by the book reviewer 
of the publication concerning the 
translation of Pere Huguet's "Guide to 
Holiness." The reviewer in his notice 
of the book had asked; "Why could 
not the translator have given us what 
we need and left out distinctly Roman 
thought?" Whereupon the protesting 
correspondent (himself a Protestant) 
writes ; " I have always felt that kind of 
a translation (if translation it would 
be called) to be particularly objection- 
able." 

And another writer refers to a case 
of mis-printing, particularly glaring, 



110 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



of translations of the Imitation of 
Christ in which whole chapters are 
omitted. 

Owing to the zealous expurgatorial 
efforts of translators, it is difficult to 
obtain a proper translation of Thomas 
a Kempis' "Imitation of Christ." One 
may pick up in almost any bookstore 
a "Protestantized" edition of this 
work carefully purged of any objec- 
tionable phrases. One 'translator' has 
even gone so far as to omit altogether 
Book IV, on the Holy Communion, 
on the ground as he states, "that it 
does not agree with the theological 
teaching of the other books, and there- 
fore must be the work of some other 
hand." 

This is another sort of "poisoning 
the wells ' ' that is extremely unfair and 
pernicious. But to the "higher crit- 
ical" faculty of our non-Catholic 
friends nothing seems sacred. Long 
ago, they began editing Catholic teach- 
ing out of the Bible. 

The Index— What It Forbids. 

The popular name for that feature 
of the work of the Church which pro- 
tects the Faith against the insidious 
attacks made in books and newspapers 
is the Index. St. Paul at Ephesus 
brought together all the bad and super- 
stitious writings which the early 
Christian converts had in their posses- 
sion and burned them publicly. The 
Council of Nice in. 324, prohibited the 
use of heretical books. Certain of the 
Popes condemned particular instances 
of bad reading from time to time. St. 
Boniface did much to exterminate bad 
books in Germany. Dangers to faith 
and morals multiplied with the coming 



of the Eeformation, when even the 
Bible itself was attacked. 

Pope Leo XIII. 

"It is to be binding on all the faith- 
ful of the universe, regardless of race 
or language, nationality or country, 
education, learning, or station in life. ' ' 

With these words, Pope Leo XIII 
outlined the work of the Sacred Con- 
gregation which has charge of the In- 
dex of Forbidden Books. An edition 
of the Index and its laws is published 
in America and can be procured at a 
very reasonable cost. (Roman Index 
by Father Betten, S. J., Herder, St. 
Louis). After outlining the laws and 
decrees of the Church covering the 
question of bad reading, and doubtful 
publications, the work concludes with 
a list of books condemned by the au- 
thorities. 

It cannot be expected that the list 
will contain all the literary poison that 
has emanated from doubtful sources 
during the last four centuries. The 
general laws enable us to see our 
duty in the selection of reading matter. 
But whenever books presenting ideas 
contrary or at least dangerous to faith 
and morals make their appearance, 
then such books are condemned. 

People sometimes cannot understand 
why a particular work should be con- 
demned, and they point to the author 
as an acknowledged authority in his 
line. It is well to understand that 
such works are not on the Index for 
the good they contain, but for poison 
mixed with wholesome food, so cleverly 
that it takes more than ordinary schol- 
arship and most careful reading to dis- 
cover it. And such works are even 



CATHOLIC READING AND PRESS. Ill 



then not put on the Index, unless it is 
certain that the harm to be feared will 
far outweigh the good they may do. 
Anyone who has a good reason for 
reading any such particular work 
should ask permission to do so, since 
he thus submits to the power, to whom 
was given the faculty of teaching all 
nations. And anyone who deliberately 
reads a forbidden book commits a sin, 
because he breaks a positive law of the 
Church. 

How Books Are Put on the Index. 

The Congregation of the Index is 
the final authority, founded by Pope 
Pius V, in 1571. All books are ex- 
amined fairly, when reported. Enquir- 
ies are made about local conditions, a 
detailed report is made, passed on from 
one consultor to another, with the ob- 
jectionable passages clearly marked. 
Some twenty-five or thirty picked 
scholars, all members, vote on the ques- 
tion, which is laid before the Pope 
before final action. If the author is a 
Catholic, he is presented with the de- 
cision before it is made public, and a 
chance is given him to submit — which 
he generally chooses to do. 

Bad books are not advertised, for the 
reason that the list is not generally 
known or published. One must pay 
the cost price of the book on the Index 
to secure a copy. Only interested per- 
sons will do this. And the effect fol- 
lows: that Catholics are warned, and 
will therefore obey. 

General Rules. 
1. We are forbidden to read certain 
books and newspapers or periodi- 
cals, or any portion of them, even 
if those portions should appear 



harmless. If, however, a book is 
prohibited because of some ob- 
jectionable passage the prohibition 
ceases when that objectionable 
passage is removed or rendered il- 
legible. 

2. No one is allowed to keep a for- 
bidden book either as owner or act- 
ing for the owner. He must destroy 
it or else give or sell it to some one 
who has permission, or perhaps 
obtains permission to keep it for 
himself. 

3. It is not right for a Catholic prin- 
ter or publisher to issue or print 
such books. A Catholic bookseller 
may not keep such books in stock, 
unless by permission; and he may 
sell them, even then, only to those 
who have permission to read them. 

4. Translations of forbidden books 
into other languages are not al- 
lowed, if they reproduce the ob- 
jectionable passages. 

5. Particular Books defending here- 
sies, doctrines contrary to divine 
revelation ; derogatory to Almighty 
God, the Blessed Virgin, the 
Saints; vilifying the Sacraments, 
the religious state, the Church it- 
self, or the hierarchy. 

6. Books treating of immorality, nar- 
rating or teaching obscenity lewd- 
ness, etc. 

7. Books teaching or recommending 
sorcery, spiritism, Christian Science 
or other superstitions. 

8. Books defending divorce, Social- 
ism, suicide, duelling, Free Ma- 
sonry. 

9. Newspapers and periodicals which 



112 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



regularly attack religion or moral- 
ity, all are forbidden. 
10. Publications must have the appro- 
bation of the Bishop of the place 
where the work is to be published, 
printed in the beginning or at the 
end of the work, renewed with each 
edition. 

A. Books on theology, church history, 
canon law, natural theology and 
ethics, all editions of the Bible, or 
parts of it in any language. 

B. Books and pamphlets of devotion, 
religious instruction, piety, etc. 

C. Books, pamphlets and leaflets which 
relate visions, revelations, miracles, 
apparitions which have not yet 
been passed on by the Church. 

D. Books, pamphlets, which give lists 
of indulgences or new grants of 
them; all writings which are evi- 
dently of importance for faith and 
morals at the time being. 

Books under "B" and "C" are for- 
bidden unless with ecclesiastical ap- 
probation, no matter by whom written. 
Such books are not however con- 
demned, provided the matter is not 
prescribed under other rules. The 
author and publisher, however, commit 
sin by their action. 

Authors who are members of relig- 
ious communities must also have the 
approbation of their religious super- 
ior added to that of the bishop. 

Responsibility of Parents. 

In the home, the head of the family 
is the one responsible before God, al- 
though all members should co-operate. 

In all cases every one must obtain 
permission before reading a forbidden 



book. This permission is granted by 
bishops, or by others whom they may 
delegate. 

The bishop's approbation of a book 
is usually given in the word ' ' Imprima- 
tur," "Let it be printed," and to be 
found on the front pages. 

All editions of the Bible issued by 
non-Catholics are forbidden. 

Classics which on account of their 
obscenity are forbidden, may be read 
sometimes by persons engaged in teach- 
ing higher branches of learning, or 
in pursuing such studies. Such works, 
however, are usually expurgated. 

A list of books forbidden by particu- 
lar decrees may be seen by reference 
to the edition of the Index published in 
this country mentioned above. 

It may be noted that those who deny 
the right of the Church to legislate 
upon the subject of reading matter for 
her children, will have difficulty in 
explaining the right assumed by cer- 
tain countries, which in time of war 
censor all despatches, rigidly examin- 
ing and deciding upon the reading pre- 
sented to their people. 

The "Funnies." 

Everybody knows that modern fea- 
ture of newspaper popularity called 
the ' ' funnies ! ' ' They have an attrac- 
tion, especially for children. 

They are horrible things for the 
most part, caricatures and distortions 
of human life. Effort should be made 
by parents to point this out to the 
little ones. As in the movies children 
get wrong ideas from these awful 
drawings. 

The average child does not find in 



CARDINAL DOUGHERTY. 
Philadelphia 



CATHOLIC READING AND PRESS. 113 



his own home an example of mother 
hitting father over the head with a 
rolling pin. Yet some such distortion 
as this forms the climax of nearly 
every strip shown. 

Parents should explain the carica- 
ture to the little ones if indeed they 
are permitted to read such stuff. They 
should inform the child that these 
pictures are not at all representa- 
tive of real life. Even at this tender 
age tactful guidance in the child's 
reading should begin lest bad habits 
be contracted and misinformation be 
obtained which prove harmful to nor- 
mal development in later years. 

Sensational News. 

There comes a time when the child 
is no longer satisfied with the "fun 
nies" alone. He turns to other pic- 
tures and to reading matter. In the 
columns of the sensational newspaper 
he obtains his first knowledge of sin 
and crime. Carefully reared by pa- 
rents, all the religious instruction 
given, all the attention devoted to re- 
ligious practices receive a decided 
shock in the mind of the average 
newspaper - reading child. Knowl- 
edge of all the sin and shame and 
crime in the world comes to him 
through the daily paper. Lurid details, 
enlarged upon by imaginative news 
writers, upset his world of people, 
doing only what is right and good. 
Offensive pictures present to him 
ideas of things unspeakable. 

The newspaper reporter in our age 
has become the director of morals for 
the average young citizen. The les- 
son of the world's shame is learned 



more quickly than any others, and 
fault lies not alone with the par- 
ents, but with elder brothers and 
sisters who bring such newspapers in- 
to the home and leave within the 
child's reach the story of the world's 
horrors and rottenness. 

Reading of sensational news, as too 
often presented to us, might easily be- 
come matter of conscience for adults, 
if it prove offensive to faith or morals. 
But when there is added the sin of 
scandal given little ones through our 
indifference or carelessness, then we 
have matter for serious thought. If 
we must introduce sensational news- 
papers into our homes, at least let us 
tear out the particularly offensive 
parts and burn them up, thus protect- 
ing the innoncent minds of the little 
ones as long as we can from contami- 
nation with a wicked world. 

Defamers of the Church. 

A pamphlet that should be in every 
Catholic home, and in the files of 
every branch of all our societies of 
men and women, is "Defamers of the 
Church," published by Our Sunday 
Visitor, Huntington, Ind. 

Here Monsignor Noll has gathered 
together in brief form all the facts 
concerning self-styled ex-priests ; bo- 
gus patriots who attack the Church ; 
real ex-priests who are deceiving 
credulous non-Catholics ; self-styled 
nuns ; anti-Catholic papers, editors 
and lecturers. 

Their life stories are here told. The 
facts are attested by affidavits. Read- 
ers are asked to examine the charac- 
ter of these defamers of the Catholic 



114 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Church, of these editors of anti-Catho- 
lic papers, and then decide for them- 
selves whether the same are reliable 
witnesses, worthy of consideration by 
fair-minded people. 

By all means, have the "Defamers 
of the Church" handy. It will prove 
invaluable in the way of preventing 
your non-Catholic friends from be- 
coming dupes of these designing indi- 
viduals who live only by stirring up 
religious prejudices. 



Catholics owe it to their own self- 
respect to be able to expose these un- 
scrupulous persons. Monsignor Noll's 
pamphlet will supply you with the 
facts concerning them. Help its cir- 
culation and by the exposure stop 
these trouble-makers and their ped- 
dling of lies. It has been proven that 
decent non-Catholics will have none 
of these anti-Catholic lecturers when 
their true character and purposes are 
unfolded. 



Bibliography. 

Credit not already given in the context and recommendations 
for more thorough reading are here found: The Late Pope 
Leo XIII of blessed memory; Geo. Haven Putnam's "The Roman 
Index and Its Latest Historian," and Rev. Joseph Hilger's, S. J., 
review of the preceding book, in "America"; Rev. Francis S. 
Betten's, S. J., "The Roman Index"; Rev. P. Finlay, S. J., in 
"America"; Maurice Francis Egan, "Literature"; Arthur Preuss, 
in Fortnightly Review; Geo. P. Brett, in "The Atlantic Monthly"; 
The Catholic Mind (semi-monthly), 1914, New York; The Living 
Church (a sectarian religious publication) ; The Sacred Heart 
Review, 1913; Catholic Times, Liverpool, England, 1913; The New 
York Times (a secular daily), 1913; "Apostolate of the Press," 
Rev. C. Plater, S. J. 



CHAPTER VI. 



How the Church Cares for 
Her Children. 

Part 1. — Our Parish Church — Boundaries — Duties to One's Own Parish — The 
Business Side — Old Methods of Church Support— Tithes— Support of Clergy— Finan- 
cial Reports— Present Day Methods— Passing the Plate— Speaking of Money- 
Church Property — Offerings — Special Collections — Support Comparisons with 
Other Churches — Critics of the Priest — Church Decorations — Gifts to the Church — 
The Parish School — Religious Instruction — Tributes to Catholic Teaching — Our 
Teachers — What Our Schools Save the State — Helpers in Parish Work — Telephone 
and Sick Calls. 



The Church of Christ in which we 
were born, or into which we have 
come after mature consideration, is 
an institution of so many years estab- 
lishment as to have an almost perfect 
system of government. Wherever we 
may find ourselves, there is a Church 
within a convenient distance. There 
is a particular place for us to worship, 
which we must seek out and with 
which we should become identified. 
This is called our Parish Church. 

That there must be order in this 
arrangement of Churches to serve 
different localities is evident to all. 
Therefore, there are boundaries to the 
parishes. Enquiry will easily locate 
these boundaries, and having thus 
established your parish Church, ever 
afterwards remain a faithful member. 
Within those boundaries certain 
priests are placed by the Bishop in 
charge of the diocese, and there, and 
there only, do those priests work. 

The people are, of course, not bound 
to attend their parish church exclu- 
sively. They are free to attend 



churches in other parishes. Yet, they 
must always consider themselves sub- 
jects of one parish church, that of the 
district in which they live. To this 
Church they must come for the Bap- 
tism of infants ; from it the dead must 
be buried ; in it they should have their 
pew. From its priest the parishioners 
must expect to receive the last Sacra- 
ments, to its school the children must 
be sent, and outside of extraordinary 
occasions, they should attend Mass 
there. The fact that the Pastor of 
another parish might be considered 
a better preacher, or that you like him 
personally, are not sufficient reasons 
for always attending other churches. 
To the parish church which serves 
you in so many different ways you owe 
a duty which can be fulfilled only by 
regular attendance and faithful ac- 
ceptance of the parish obligations. 

You are not allowed to vote out- 
side of the precinct in which you live. 
You are not permitted to pay your 
taxes in any other place than that in 
which you live. There must be similar 



116 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



order in the conduct of parishes. Not 
only should people identify them- 
selves with the local parish, but 
they should at once make themslves 
known to their Pastor, in order that 
when he is called on cases of sickness, 
he will not be forced to meet total 
strangers. The priests do their best 
to become acquainted with their peo- 
ple, but in large cities this is almost 
impossible. There is always a class 
which prefers to remain unac- 
quainted, and there are many others, 
who for other reasons will be un- 
known to the pastor unless efforts are 
made by the people themselves. The 
priest always works so as to be able 
to say with St. John, X, 14, "I know 
mine and mine know me." 

The Business Side. 

The Church exists by the free-will 
offerings of its members. Your Parish 
Church has first claim to your atten- 
tion on this matter. You may feel 
the desire to give freely elsewhere, 
but if, by so doing, you are deprived 
from doing your duty to your parish 
then such giving is not to be encour- 
aged. Just as charity begins at home, 
so the support of one's own church 
must receive first consideration. Be 
generous in your offerings. No man 
ever became poor by the contributions 
he made to the Church. It is giving 
to God the things that are God's, and 
God freely acknowledges the good- 
will which prompts the gifts in the 
graces He so liberally extends in re- 
turn. The idea of present-day sup- 
port of the Church may be better 
understood by reference to old time 



methods, when the govenment of the 
country assisted in caring for the 
Church. 

Origin And Methods Of Church 
Support. 

The word "Tithe" is Anglo-Saxon 
in origin and means that one tenth 
part of all fruits and profits, justly 
acquired, is owed to God in recogni- 
tion of His Supreme dominion over 
man, and to be paid to the ministers 
of the Church. The custom of giving 
tithes is very ancient, being men- 
tioned in Genesis XP7, and later in 
Gen. XXVIII, where Jacob is re- 
corded as giving a tithe of all his pos- 
sessions to the Lord. In Lev. XXVH, 
30, and in Deut. XIV, 22, the He- 
brews are commanded to offer to God 
the tenth part of all the produce of 
the field, of the fruits of the trees, 
and of the first-born of oxen and 
sheep. In Deuteronomy there is men- 
tion, not only of an annual tithe, but 
also of a full tithe to be paid every 
three years. In Num. XVIII, 21, there 
is further reference. 

The pagans also offered tithes to 
their gods, notably the Arabians, the 
Carthaginians, the Persians, Greeks 
and Romans. 

In the Christian Church, as those 
who serve the altar should live by the 
altar (I Cor. LX, 13), provision of 
some kind had necessarily to be made 
for the sacred ministers. Spontaneous 
offerings from the faithful came at 
first, but as the Church expanded, it 
became necessary to make laws to en- 
sure the consistent support of the cler- 
gy. The payment of tithes was 



HOW CHURCH CARES FOR CHILDREN. 117 



adopted from the Old Law, and early 
writers speak of it as a matter of con- 
science and obligation, of even more 
than usual importance since it is cer- 
tain that it is a law instituted not by 
man but by God Himself. All nations 
recognized this right of the Church in 
retaining a portion of the produce of 
the land, and under Charlemagne, in 
the eighth century, this was enforced 
strictly. Before the Norman conquest 
it was similarly enforced in England. 
At first the tithe was payable to the 
Bishop but later the right of collection 
passed to the pastor in each place. The 
right to tithes was granted to certain 
princes in return for protection in 
war, but this led to abuses which in 
time brought about the abandonment 
of tithes in most places. At the pres- 
ent day tithes are the rule in Austria 
and Germany and other parts, more or 
less obscure. In this country tithes 
are collected in Quebec, Canada, 
recognized by civil law, and declared 
by the council of Quebec (1868) as 
binding on the conscience of the faith- 
ful. 

In English speaking countries tithes 
have been done away with, at least 
as far as Catholics are concerned. 
Some species of tithes exist in Eng- 
land for the benefit of the clergy of the 
Established Church. The Constitu- 
tional Act of 1791 in Canada provided 
for the support of the English Church 
in Canada by providing them with 
one seventh of all public lands for 
their maintenance. This is, perhaps, 
the last civil recognition of tithes 



and the duty of supporting the clergy. 
Church Support 

With no other support than that 
which is given freely by its members, 
the Pastor is called upon frequently to 
mention the business side of religion 
during the course of the service. 
When he does so, you will know that 
the need is great. No priest likes to 
bring up money matters in announc- 
ments. Back of the request made is 
the worry of the business side which 
so many priests would, if possible, 
shift to others. Think, when tempted 
to criticise, as so many do, of the debt 
placed on your church. Try to esti- 
mate the trouble involved in raising 
funds and paying interest, keeping up 
the affairs of a parish a duty which 
should really take all a man's time in- 
stead of having the additional duties 
of caring for his people, the first and 
most necessary reason for his being 
with you. 

The pastor each year gives a de- 
tailed statement of Church receipts 
and expenses, so arranged by the law 
of the diocese to which he belongs. 
This statement is audited by a com- 
mittee of parishioners. The whole 
matter is arranged with business care 
and prudence. Such statement is al- 
ways available for those interested. 
In many cases it is read to the people 
by the pastor, or published in some 
other way. 

Present Day Methods. 

The custom of passing the collec- 
tion plate at religious services is bib- 
lical: St. Paul used it and there is a 
frequent mention of it elsewhere. To- 



118 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



day it is the main support of religion. 
It is the only contribution made by a 
great many people, who pay as they 
come and do not come as often as they 
should, and as the support of the 
Church depends on you, don't grum- 
ble when you hear the subject men- 
tioned. A priest who speaks of money 
matters is not asking anything for 
himself. Don't get the idea that you 
are giving to him. His salary is fixed 
like your own, only by the laws of the 
Church. "Whether you contribute or 
not, does not concern him. He re- 
minds you of your duty in this regard 
as he does in others. And you are not 
paying for the seat you occupy, where 
this custom prevails, you are support- 
ing the church in some slight degree. 
The expenses of the church go on, 
even when you do not or are unable 
to come. Therefore, rent a pew and 
contribute regularly. In every society 
there are dues to pay, to this great so- 
ciety of the church into which Bap- 
tism initiated you, pay your dues, 
which are always proportioned to 
your means, never exorbitant de- 
mands, never an imposition upon your 
needs. 

And none is ever the less welcome 
in the church because he is not in a 
position to contribute. This fact is 
always brought out and emphasized in 
actual practice. The Catholic Church 
is the Church of the poor, and they 
are always welcome in all oar 
churches. There is no distinction ever 
made. Services are arranged every- 
where especially at hours to accomo- 
date them and their work. They are 
welcome at any time. There are no 



churches for wealthy people exclu- 
sively. At all times and in all places 
poor people find a welcome in the 
Catholic Church modeled on that, of 
which they are so sure, in the life of 
Jesus Himself. 

Church Property. 

The title to the property of the 
Church is not held in the name of 
the priest in charge. On this subject, 
the Plenary Councils of Baltimore 
have legislated to avoid all criticism, 
to prevent all insecure methods and 
to safeguard in every way the holding 
of ecclesiastical possessions. The 
Church has always claimed the right 
to hold such property as necessary to 
the proper administration of religious 
obligations. As a method best adapted 
to do this, and where this can be done, 
all property is vested in the authority 
of the bishop of the diocese, who con- 
trols it according to the prescriptions 
of the Church, and administers it ac- 
cording to needs. By civil law he is 
regarded as the owner, although by 
the laws of the Church he is only pro- 
curator. Various titles prevail in dif- 
ferent places under which property 
is held, yet always he is bound to keep 
careful inventory of Church property 
and to exercise good judgment in its 
administration. The holding of local 
property is discouraged for obvious 
reasons, except in certain states where 
the laws especially favor this arrange- 
ment. The priest is the administra- 
tor of local property, and in this, 
sometimes, he is assisted by trustees, 
selected from the parish and approved 
by the bishop. Statement of all finan- 



HOW CHURCH CARES FOR CHILDREN. 119 



cial affairs must be submitted annual- 
ly, bearing the signature of the trus- 
tees, who in this capacity act as audi- 
tors. As noted above, this statement is 
available to all interested, and, in 
most cases, published. Strict injunc- 
tions to prudence and moderation are 
contained in the church instruction on 
administration of affairs, which can- 
not possibly be separated from the 
spiritual duties of pastors. 

Church Offerings. 

Offerings are made to the Church 
by force of ancient and accepted cus- 
toms, which extend back to the days 
of the Apostles, when there was a 
common purse for all. Strict account 
is made of all offerings by the priest 
in charge of a parish. It is a common 
mistake that some Catholics make in 
assuming that these offerings belong 
to the priest to whom they are made, 
and that he retains them. The only 
offering a priest may retain is that 
made him as a "stipend" for a Mass 
to be said. The reason and object of 
this offering, regulated by law, is ex- 
plained fully under its proper bead- 
ing. Any other offering made is gov- 
erned by the laws of the dioce^ to 
which the priest belongs, as a part of 
Church funds, and, as such, must be 
directed by him into the proper chan- 
nel, and accounted for. There is no 
such thing as an offering for the Sac- 
rament of Penance. In this country 
the custom prevails of making spon- 
taneous offerings at baptisms, mar- 
riages and funerals, but there is never 
any demand made, and all such ad- 
ministration is absolutely free. There 



can be no question of cost concerned 
with the administration of any Sac- 
rament of Penance. In this country 
go directly to the priest in charge of 
the parish to be accounted for with 
all other funds in the manner pre- 
scribed by the laws of the diocese. Be- 
yond the usual methods familiar to 
all, any special collection must be 
authorized by the Bishop. 

In every diocese there are certain 
special collections such as the Pope's 
collection, announced periodically, 
the returns of which are paid directly 
by the pastor into the business office 
of the diocese. The Christmas and 
Easter collections are accounted for 
with the usual revenues in the annual 
report of the parish. In every re- 
spect the priests of a parish act as 
employees of the people in giving 
strict account of all money received, 
retaining for themselves only the sal- 
ary appointed by law for each diocese, 
to be paid out of the revenues of the 
parish. 

Even non-Catholic authorities on 
the question of comparative support 
of clergymen in the different churches 
with special reference to scholastic 
attainments, admit freely that this 
salary of Catholic priests is very 
small. A prominent writer who re- 
cently conducted an exhaustive re- 
view of the subject, Mr. Odell, had 
his effort commended by America, 
our Catholic New York weekly, as 
follows : 

"Hundreds of Catholic priests in 
this country live, as is well known, on 
less than $50 a month, but they are 
not 'unskilled laborers' by any means. 



120 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



For the Church does not ordain her 
clergy till they have completed at 
least two years' college work and fol- 
lowed successfully in the seminary a 
five years' course of philosophy, theo- 
logy and asceticism." And this is 
true not of the United States, Canada 
and Great Britain only, but of the 
whole Catholic world." 

Critics of the Priest. 

"Therefore, judge not before the time." 
(Cor. iv, 5.) 

These words, were addressed long 
ago to those who judged and criti- 
cized God's ministers. We need them 
al this day as much if not more than 
those to whom they were written. It 
would have been better for many to 
have kept them in mind at all times. 
By them we are prohibited from judg- 
ing and criticizing God's ministers. 

By any such unjust criticism we 
offend God, we impede the work of 
God in our part of the Church, we in- 
jure seriously our own souls. 

Such action is really meddling with 
God's business. Those in authority 
over us, our rectors and priests, are 
what they are and where they are by 
God's appointment. Therefore, to 
judge and criticize them is to put 
ourselves in God's place, to assume 
to ourselves God's authority. God 
alone and those appointed by Him to 
judge them are the only persons on 
earth who have a right to judge the 
ministers of God. To these alone are 
they responsible. "When we judge His 
ministers, we practically question the 
wisdom of God in calling them to 
their several stations. We impede the 



work of God in our part of the Church 
if we do not all think, act and speak 
alike. If we do not work together in 
our own parish, the work of God that 
we have to do by all working together 
not only cannot advance, but will, 
through our own fault, cease entirely 
or drag on but very slowly. 

Church Decoration. 

What is generally considered as 
mere decorations in the Church is, in 
reality, something intended as a real 
aid to devotion. These varied forms 
of decorative art have a real 
message for us. They are called the 
Gospel of the unlearned, but they are 
more than that, they are a real help 
for all classes, an inspiration to higher 
things, an arrangement of artistic 
discernment which recalls events in 
the life of our Savior, or which in- 
culcates some particular virtue as il- 
lustrated in a Biblical scene. It is not 
claimed that church decorations are 
in every case expensive works of art. 
That is not essential. But whether 
the stained glass windows be imported 
or domestic, whether the pictures or 
statues be cheap or elaborate, the fact 
remains that they are intended to be 
devotional, and that they so affect us, 
even unconsciously. Such is the mis- 
sion of the decorations. 

It may not always be possible for 
a congregation to have beautiful dec- 
orations in the church, and the desire 
on the part of some parishioners 
to donate something might militate 
against the taste and judgment 
which designed the general plan. Left 
to himself, the priest in charge will 



HOW CHURCH CARES FOR CHILDREN. 121 



sooner or later have a scheme of de- 
coration of which his congregation 
may be proud. But as one writer puts 
it, the pastor is at the mercy, first of 
his people and secondly of the decor- 
ating artist not to speak of financial 
conditions. He suggests that parish- 
ioners, desirous of making an offering 
to the church in the form of interior 
decoration, should always be guided 
by the advice of the pastor, who has 
a general plan in view. There is a 
commendable desire to make such of- 
ferings, and a mistake is made so 
often at the beginning by not consult- 
ing the pastor before a choice is made. 
The donation of a particular article 
may not be appropriate. There might 
already be another such article in 
place. The donation may not harmo- 
nize with the general scheme, be out of 
proportion in size or otherwise. Many 
such reasons suggest the advisability 
of first consulting with the priest in 
charge of the parish before deciding 
on the article in question. And don't 
demand a particular location in the 
church. The plan usually calls for an 
arrangement in some order which 
your demand may upset. In all such 
details defer to the judgment of the 
pastor, but especially do not insist 
upon or ask to place the name of the 
donor in large letters of family or self 
advertisement. To place a memorial 
gift, with a request for the prayers of 
the faithful for the souls of the de- 
parted, is Catholic and in good taste. 
But any further display should be 
avoided. 



The Parish School. 

In almost every parish there is a 
school conducted by the sisters. 
There can be no question of the ex- 
cellence of the training your children 
will get there, since the Sisters bring 
to their school all the zeal of their 
vocation, all the earnestness of love 
of God in their work, and teaching 
ability of a very high order. 

We believe that education should 
produce the ideal man; if so, it must 
take account of the child's primary 
purpose on earth and of its destiny 
hereafter ; it should fit the child for a 
successful career and for Heaven 
through eternity. 

What the children will be counts 
more than anything else. Character 
building is most important. Jesus as 
a model should never be excluded 
from the school-room. He bid, "the 
little children to come unto Me." He 
came to teach. He is the "true light." 

The half hour Sunday School that 
public school children get in the way 
of instruction will never offset the 
unchristian influences with which they 
are surrounded during the week. 
Place your children in a Catholic 
school. 

Essentials Taught. 

Even from a worldly point of 
view, our parish schools excell. Senti- 
ment and patriotism lead people to 
extol our great public school sys- 
tem in the open ; behind the cur- 
tain it is being severely criticized by 
non-Catholic educators themselves. 
Because of crowding so much into the 
curriculum, because of time spent on 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



122 

"fads and fancies," the essential sub- 
jects are learned only superficially. 
In most cities the products of paro- 
chial schools are in greater demand by 
business men than the graduates of 
the public school. 

Chicago and New York city busi- 
ness men in particular have gone on 
record in their condemnation of the 
fads and experiments of which the 
public school children are victims. 
Tributes to Catholic Teaching. 

Such tributes are by no means rare 
and come from the best known edu- 
cators ; we quote only one. 

George Wharton Pepper of Phila- 
delphia, formerly professor of law in 
the University of Pennsylvania, once 
paid a remarkable tribute to the value 
of the Catholic parochial school. 

' ' There is no doubt in my mind that 
the Roman Catholics have the finest 
system of teaching yet devised, and I 
am positive that the time is coming 
when a move will be promoted to 
have each religion care for the edu- 
cation of its children, just as the Ro- 
man Catholics are doing at the pres- 
ent time. I believe that these various 
religions will receive a small compen- 
sation from the state for the educa- 
tion of each pupil. * * * "When this 
move is started, you may be sure :t 
will have strong political backing." 

Not all Catholics will agree with 
Mr. Pepper's belief that the time will 
ever come when state aid will be 
granted to Catholic schools, while 
many will hold that it would not be 
desirable to receive this aid. 

The Catholic who presumes to dis- 
parage the Catholic school would do 



well to ponder on the following extract 
from an address by Judge Gemmel (a 
non-Catholic), of the Chicago Court 
of Domestic Relations : 

"The Catholic schools are far su- 
perior to the public schools, because 
they teach the young the principles 
of honor, morals, and industry. It 
isn't the lack of education that makes 
criminals, nor too much education; it 
is the neglect of the teaching of mor- 
als in the public schools." 

Catholic Teachers. 

Our Catholic educators are a body 
of men and women who in response 
to the Divine call have pledged unre- 
mittingly their whole lives to the 
faithful performance of God's favor- 
ite work — the teaching of man. And 
in order to do more thoroughly the 
work to Which they voluntarily de- 
voted their lives, they have ostracized 
themselves from the world's society; 
and, secluded as they are, free from 
mundane distraction, think of the 
genuine concentration of which they 
are capable, and with what devoted- 
ness they can apply themselves to 
their work. 

The religious environment that en- 
velopes our teachers, and the exem- 
plary lives they lead, cannot help but 
influence the receptive child, and the 
children's intimate association with 
God's chosen expounders of morality 
will never fail of its true effect. 

Religious Training. 

But the two most valuable assets 
that the parochial school boasts of 
and to which the Catholic child is 



HOW CHURCH CARES FOR CHILDREN. 123 



heir, are the rigid disciplinary force 
maintained and the religious training 
which constitutes part of its curricu- 
lum. 

Religious learning is the true foun- 
dation of a Catholic education. It is 
the moulder of the life's ship that 
pilots us to our heavenly goal, and 
is as essential to the Catholic child 
as his daily bread. Discipline is 
a potent factor in the character 
moulding of the child, and is a 
much needed trait these days when 
so little respect is paid rightful au- 
thority. 

What Our Schools Save the State. 

Sir Anthony Matre, K. S. G., widely 
known because of his activities in 
Catholic societies and his ability as a 
lecturer, presented the attitude of 
Catholics toward the public schools in 
a convincing way in a recent address. 

Mr. Matre asserted that more than 
$100,000,000 was contributed toward 
the public school system of the coun- 
try by Catholics, in the form of taxes 
and in addition to this Catholics sup- 
ported their own splendid educational 
system comprising more than 7,500 
parochial schools, high schools, acade- 
mies, colleges, universities and sem- 
inaries. If the Catholic school and 
college students were suddenly thrown 
on the public institutions, he added, 
indescribable confusion and conges- 
tion would result, as it would mean 
that the public schools, already over- 
crowded in many instances at present, 
would face the necessity of providing 
buildings, equipment and instructors 



for more than 1,000,000 more pupils 
and students. 

''Catholics have no feeling against 
the public schools," Mr. Matre said, 
"for they have splendid teachers and 
equipment. But the Catholic parents 
want their children to learn four R's, 
not three, and the fourth is Religion. 
Religion, of course, cannot be taught 
in the public schools because these 
schools are patronized by Jews and 
many other creeds. So the Catholic 
parents voluntarily make sacrifices to 
maintain Catholic schools." 

Helpers in Parish Work. 

We have a class of people in every 
parish who are never satisfied with 
what is done or planned No matter 
how hard anyone works in their inter- 
ests there remains only criticism, harsh 
and unjust, and ridicule Particularly 
so is this noticeable when we consider 
entertainment features. 

Workers are always few, in compari- 
son with the number of people in a 
parish. Usually they are practical, 
common-sense workers, too. They make 
the best of the means and talent avail- 
able, and they present their effort in 
that spirit. They understand the ad- 
vantages possessed by the professional 
entertainer and have no false ideas 
about their own limitations. 

The result is pleasure for those who 
come to parish entertainments, or for 
most of them, at least. Reasonable peo- 
ple like to see home talent. They enjoy 
the natural development and are quick 
to notice the absence of affectations and 
other faults found in the cheap profes- 
sional. The evidence of good-will on 



124 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



the part of the performers makes up 
for trifling- defects, and the broad- 
minded person will always so regard 
amateur performances. 

What makes such work discouraging 
and difficult is the attitude taken by 
the self-considered superior class. 
These people never help, and they are 
always free with their criticism — ■ 
destructive of course. The meanness 
of such feeling is pitiable, and yet, like 
all crawling things, it may hurt if one 
gets close enough to it. If gifted, such 
people esteem their talent too highly to 
present it before an audience of fellow 
parishioners. But usually they are 
absolutely devoid of talent. They have 
acquired bad habits early in life which 
have prevented any unusual develop- 
ment. Like fruit plucked before it was 
ripened, their ability has had no chance 
against the storms of meanness and 
jealousy brought out through their un- 
charitable view of others. Life is filled 
with such wrecks. They skulk even 
into the church itself. There are none 
free from their poisonous criticism. 
There is nothing sacred to them. 

Foolish, we, who think to escape. 
There is no chance. We must keep on, 
doing our best, satisfied with that and 
with the knowledge that many appre- 
ciate our efforts — that we work for a 



good cause. One thing is certain, 
never yet has anyone been found bet- 
ter fitted to criticize than he who sits 
on the fence to watch his neighbor 
work. 

The Telephone and Sick Calls. 

"If you have any regard for the 
priest, don't use the telephone at 
night for a sick call. Rather go to the 
rectory and accompany him to the 
patient's bedside. We offer the sug- 
gestion because of a recent assault in 
Brooklyn," says the Catholic Union 
and Times, Buffalo. "The Rev. 
Francis X. Debold, pastor of the 
Church of the Holy Family is recov- 
ering from the effects of an attack 
made upon him while he was on his 
way to the home of a parishioner. 
Father Debold received a telephone 
message at 11 o'clock asking for his 
assistance. It was a foggy night and 
he could see only a few feet ahead. 
He heard footsteps behind him and as 
he turned he was struck on the head 
and knocked to the sidewalk. 

"In large cities the priest is often in 
danger when called out late at night. 
He may not mind his personal safety, 
but there is always the care of the 
Blessed Sacrament which he carries 
with him in such emergency calls." 



Bibliography. 

Credit for much of the foregoing lies in the inspiration received 
from pamphlets on the practical side of religion issued by Our 
Sunday Visitor, Huntington, Ind.; the Paulist Press, New York, 
and Catholic Truth Society, Brooklyn; "People of Our Parish. " 
and "Correct Thing for Catholics," by Lelia H. Bugg; Social Or- 
ganizations in Parishes, Father Garesche; The Catholic Citizen, 
Lapp; Externals of the Church, Sullivan; Parochial Schools, 
Coakley; The Why of Parish Schools, a pamphlet; various society 
reports. 



CHAPTER VI— Part 2. 

Social Work of the Church 

Social Work — In Early Years — Magna Charta — Church Interest in Employment — 
Present Day Organization — Catholic Societies at Work — Homeless Ones — Work in 
Prisons — Care of Orphans — Derelicts — Organized Charity — Deaf Mutes — The Blind — 
The Boy in a Large City — Giving Him a Helping Hand — The Good Shepherd Work — 
The Social Evil — Lessons in Decency — The Old Fashioned Home — Church Care for 
the Dead — Cemeteries — Social Reconstruction — Bishops' Pastoral Letter — The Red 
Flag — Single Tax — Communism. 



Sociology is a present day science, 
meaning a study of social conditions. 
Minds of a very high order have con- 
tributed an abundant literature to this 
study. The aim is to study the forms 
and processes that occur among men 
in their efforts to make provision for 
their physical wants. It deals with 
the results of the distribution and con- 
sumption of wealth. It embraces all 
special social sciences. 

Present day sociologists have a dis- 
tinct tendency toward the ' ' isms. ' ' To 
trace the plans of God in the sequence 
of human events is never considered. 
Explanations are made in every other 
way, and the assumptions of many of 
these self-styled scientists are offensive 
to Christians especially on the ques- 
tions of divorce, family, state and 
children. 

Catholics in social reform have 
done wonders in recent years. With 
zeal fired by the example of their 
Church in its care of the poor through- 
out the ages, they have taken up the 
problems of labor, poverty and social 
life and have made splendid progress. 



They have done, what their predeces- 
sors in the church of bye-gone times 
have done, adapted themselves to the 
need of the times, and applied the 
teaching of Jesus Christ to practice in 
the world of to-day. 

In Earlier Years. 

But while Catholic social work has 
progressed wonderfully of recent years 
and in America, it was in Europe that 
its marvelous growth was first noted. 
After the Council of Trent there arose 
orders and associations of Catholic 
men and women devoted to the relief 
of the sick, the destitute and aban- 
doned. Out of the century of eco- 
nomic and political devastations which 
Louis XIV worked in France and 
largely in Europe, arose St. Vincent 
de Paul, the greatest of all modern 
apostles of charity, and when he passed 
to his reward his Sisters of Charity 
were covering all France with their 
holy works ; nor have they ceased their 
herculean labors, until the whole world 
is bound by the network of their insti- 
tutions that relieve every kind of hu- 
man misery. When Whittier wrote his 



126 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



"Angels of Buena Vista" he may not 
have reflected that for two centuries 
those angelic women had followed the 
battlefields of Europe with their holy 
and welcome ministrations. 

In the seventeenth and eighteenth 
centuries the hospitals of Catholic 
countries grew in number and efficien- 
cy. The Hotel Dieu of Paris was long 
famous as the chief center of Europe, 
and we can point with pride to the 
Hotel Dieu of Montreal, as the oldest 
institution of its kind in North Ameri- 
ca. In Mediterranean countries loan 
banks to the poor were opened that 
permitted them to obtain small sums by 
pledging their modest belongings at 
a very low rate of interest, and proved 
an efficient offset to the ravages of 
usury. Prison reform, the separation 
of the youthful criminal from the aged, 
and improved prison architecture, are 
owing to the Popes of the eighteenth 
century. 

The Magna Charta. 

An instance of a great Churchman's 
influence for good of the people is 
found in England in the person of 
Archbishop Langton. 

The Magna Charta, or Great Char- 
ter, was an agreement signed by the 
King of England in the year 1215, 
upon which are based all the liberties 
which English speaking people of to- 
day enjoy. 

John, King of England (1199-1216), 
second son of Henry II the founder 
of the house of Plantagenet, was a 
weak, cruel and unscrupulous ruler, 
who so oppressed his people as to cause 
great dissatisfaction among all classes. 



His tyranny aroused his subjects at 
different times only to be appeased 
with promises. Finally, the barons, 
heade.d by Archbishop Stephen Lang- 
ton, so exasperated by the king's per- 
fidy, arose in arms against him and 
forced him to sign this agreement which 
was called the Magna Charta. This 
action secured to the people of Eng- 
land, of every class, important rights 
which they have enjoyed ever since, 
and which have formed the basis of 
constitutions elsewhere as well. 

The principle articles of the Magna 
Charta were, — The Church was to be 
free and to enjoy her liberty of elec- 
tion of bishops; no freeman was to be 
arrested, outlawed or otherwise pun- 
ished without trial by his peers; no 
heiress was to be given in marriage 
against her will; freemen were to be 
fined proportionately to their offences ; 
justice was to be no longer sold, and 
courts to be fixed in certain places, no 
longer following the whim of the king ; 
subsidies were not to be levied without 
the consent of the council; cities and 
towns were to have local government; 
no man was to be tried on mere sus- 
picion, but by oaths of witnesses; 
vassals or servants of the king were to 
have no greater rights than the vassals 
of others ; the king could not levy taxes 
without the consent of his council. 

Thus did Archbishop Langton and 
the Catholic barons of England wring 
from a tyrannical king the foundation 
upon which the liberties, which to-day 
we enjoy, are based. 

Church Interest in Employment. 

To find employment is an important 
feature of social activity. The Church 



SOCIAL WORK OF THE CHURCH. 



127 



in America arranges for this in many 
different ways. The care of orphans, 
the aged and the distressed calls to 
those who follow Christ, and who re- 
member His example in first giving 
thought to the helpless and afflicted. 

First Sociologist. 

St. Antoninus, Archbishop of Flor- 
ence (1389-1459) is a striking example 
of the Church's attitude towards this 
question in former days. The prin- 
ciples and methods of this first Christ- 
ian Sociologist are especially adapted 
to the need of to-day and form the 
basis of much present day Catholic ac- 
tivity. He was the first to found a be- 
nevolent society (St. Martin's) whose 
object was to relieve human suffering. 
He originated the idea of turning vast 
tracts of unused ground into truck 
gardens for the poor, even giving up 
his own flower garden to the project. 
This idea is being worked out to-day 
ir Chicago and other cities as some- 
thing decidedly new and original. He 
explains his principles as follows : 

■ ' God gave us natural riches, such as 
property, cattle, food and the like ; and 
also artificial riches, such as precious 
metals, clothing, etc., so that we might 
by the application of them, merit 
eternal life. God has bestowed wealth 
on man so that he might look on Him 
as the "Well- Wisher of the race, might 
love Him and in His name give alms 
to those in need. Temporal goods are 
given to us to be used in the preserva- 
tion of our lives. The object of gain is 
that by its means man may provide for 
himself and others according to their 
state. The object for providing for 



himself and others is that they may be 
able to live virtuously. The object of 
virtuous life is the attainment of ever- 
lasting glory. ' ' 

In speaking of wealth and riches this 
great social teacher supplies them to 
the workingman as well as to his richer 
employer. The object of wealth, little 
or great, is to do good with it for the 
ultimate purpose of an eternal reward. 
The greater the wealth, the more ur- 
gent and imperative the duty of charit- 
able distribution and use. 

This idea on the relation of capital 
to labor and vice versa meets the most 
approved teachings of modern Christ- 
ian sociologists. 

Present Day Organization. 

The general care of social work in 
the Church is diocesan in character. 
Every diocese has its organizations 
under the supervision of the Bishop. 

New York has eight orphan asylums, 
three institutes for the deaf, two for 
the blind, five homes for the aged poor, 
seven immigrant homes, one home for 
friendless women, one home for seamen, 
twenty-six hospitals and thirty-seven 
industrial schools. 

Chicago has two infant asylums, five 
homes for working girls, one for boys, 
five homes for the aged, three chil- 
dren's homes, one of them (St. Mary's 
Training School) described elsewhere, 
homes for the blind and deaf, twenty 
or more hospitals with free beds and 
free clinics, emergency homes, day 
nurseries, etc., all under systematic di- 
rection of the Associated Catholic 
Charities. This organization dispenses 
$700,000 annually. 



128 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



St. Louis has a newsboys' home, a 
mission settlement, hotel for work- 
ingmen, six orphan asylums, three in- 
dustrial schools, one institute for the 
deaf, four asylums and two homes for 
the aged. 

Boston has ten orphan asylums, one 
school for the deaf, five industrial 
schools, seven hospitals, and eight other 
homes. 

Philadelphia has thirteen orphan 
asylums, two industrial schools, one 
such school for Indian and negro 
children, five hospitals, three homes for 
the aged, one widows' asylum, two 
working girls' homes, two protector- 
ates for boys and girls. 

The Catholic Women's League is an 
excellent organization with headquar- 
ters in the large cities. These women 
conduct a central office to which all 
enquiries may be directed. Their 
officers superintend a service which 
protects young women arriving in the 
city, brings them to a well conducted 
home or assists them in finding friends, 
arranges employment through an effi- 
cient bureau, superintends day nurser- 
ies where young children of mothers 
forced into employment are cared for 
during working hours, have rest-rooms, 
reading rooms, and libraries for 
strangers, and generally co-operate in 
the welfare of women in a large city, 
meeting conditions as they find them. 
The year 1920 found that the Travel- 
ers' Aid branch of this efficient League 
had assisted 49,327 persons, includ- 
ing 24,000 women, nearly 6,000 girls, 
1,037 mothers with babies and over 
2,500 old people. Pamphlets are issued 
and spread broadcast telling of the 



city's pitfalls and how assistance may 
be secured. 

This work is done for men through 
settlements such as the Holy Cross 
Mission, Chicago. The floating popu- 
lation of large cities makes the great- 
est winter problem the city has to face. 
To care for the Catholic transient un- 
employed, separate buildings with 
sleeping apartments, baths, reading and 
recreation rooms, employment bureaus, 
and other helpful features, are ar- 
ranged in different homes, usually 
under the direction of a priest with 
a corps of helpers. 

The Central Verein of North Amer- 
ica, a German-American organization 
with headquarters at St. Louis, has a 
membership of over 100,000. It has 
agents at the various ports of entry to 
look after the welfare of immigrants. 
Leo House in New York is one of its 
institutions for the reception of immi- 
grants. Its members help in education 
and other forms of endeavor, being 
particularly effective in the publica- 
tion and spread of Catholic pamphlets 
on practical subjects. 

The Catholic Club of New York, a 
club with a large membership, interests 
itself in all matters within the scope of 
lay activity, educational charitable and 
lecture work in particular. 

The Knights of Columbus, The An- 
cient Order of Hibernians, The Forest- 
ers, all our societies in fact, have ar- 
rangements by which their own mem- 
bers and families are cared for, employ- 
ment bureaus, entertainment centers, 
etc. The Emmett Memorial Hall in 
Chicago, is a notable example, conduct- 
ed by the local branches of the A. O. H. 



THE MOST REVEREND GEORGE W. MUNDELEIN, D. D. 
Archbishop of Chicago. 



SOCIAL WORK OF THE CHURCH. 



129 



Private individuals assist generously 
in special activities. 

Other societies care for other fea- 
tures, in branch club rooms, gymnas- 
iums and libraries. And, of course, 
every parish church having a separate 
hall and equipment of its own, makes 
special provision for the entertainment 
of its people. And all other dioceses 
are organized in like manner. The 
Sisters, of course, lead in the good 
work. It would be impossible to esti- 
mate fully the extent or scope of the 
entire Catholic Church organization for 
real social service. To encourage those 
drawn towards the practical side of 
religion, nearly all our universities 
eonduct courses in sociology, in which 
attention is given to the various activ- 
ities, and instruction given those who 
desire to help. A few particular in- 
stances follow : 

The Mission of Our Lady of Mercy 
and the Working Boys' Home in Chi- 
cago numbers among its activities the 
following : 

The Visitation of City Jail and Re- 
form, School. Masses are offered every 
Sunday — Confession heard frequently 
and the Sacraments administered al- 
most daily. 

Maintaining A Home for Homeless , 
Boys — Hundreds of boys come each 
year, most of them in rags, hungry and 
foot-sore orphans, runaways and wan- 
derers. For these, irrespective of na- 
tionality, creed or color, raiment, food 
and shelter are provided, and an oppor- 
tunity is given each boy to make good. 

This excellent institution receives no 
assistance in any other way than 
through the freewill offering of gen- 



erous souls who appreciate the efforts 
of untiring workers in this child-sav- 
ing union. 

Care of the Little Ones. 

A few miles out of Chicago, on a 
farm of nearly one thousand acres, are 
erected the buildings of Saint Mary's 
Training School. This institution is 
under direct control of the Archbishop 
with a board of governors assisting. 
Separate buildings house the boys and 
girls who at various hours of the day 
receive necessary education, while at- 
tention is given also to manual train- 
ing along lines suggested by the de- 
velopment of their individual talent 
in the different trade shops provided. 
Play time finds opportunities for fresh 
air and pleasure far from the smoke 
and noise of the city. The evening 
hours bring rest and relaxation under 
healthful conditions. 

This is one of the largest institutions 
cf its kind in the country. All the 
orphan children of the archdiocese are 
cared for here by' the Sisters of Mercy, 
in number about one thousand. Father 
Doran is superintendent. 

This is, of course, but one instance. 
Every city in the country cares for 
its own under the direction of the Sis- 
ters whose vocation draws them to this 
form of charity. The Catholic Home 
Finding Association is an organization 
of recent development. Its aim is to 
place children in proper homes and 
to watch over them until able to care 
for themselves. 

Care of the Derelicts. 

While every large city has its meth- 
ods of caring for the various forms 



130 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



cf social work perhaps there is no 
better known institution for destitute 
men than the home conducted by 
Father Dempsey in St. Louis. Father 
Tim, as he is familiarly called, is known 
to all the floating population and there 
are few of them he cannot call by 
name. His work has been commended 
highly, none too much when one con- 
siders its nature, and the sacrifice de- 
manded. 

Other prominent institutions of sim- 
ilar nature are conducted by the Do- 
minican Fathers in their "Holy Name 
Mission" on the Bowery, New York 
city, and by the Paulist Fathers in 
their "Our Lady of Victory" Mission 
and in the Holy Cross Mission estab- 
lished by Archbishop Mundelein, in 
Chicago. In these places particularly 
effective work is being done. A priest 
is in direct charge, with a host of 
helpers. Attention is given to the needs 
of both body and soul while entertain- 
ments are conducted regularly with 
talent drawn from society organiza- 
tions throughout the city. 

The Associated Catholic Charities. 

Serious investigation of the charity 
problem in Chicago by Archbishop 
Mundelein in 1917, eventually launched 
the Associated Catholic Charities. 

The burden of Catholic charities had 
previously been carried by the St. Vin- 
cent de Paul Society and the other in- 
dividual Catholic charitable organiza- 
tions and institutions. 

A group of Catholic laymen offered 
a particularly valuable suggestion in 
organization, which later developed be- 
fore a gathering of Catholic laymen. 



Recital of the difficulties constantly 
confronting the many charitable or- 
ganizations in their efforts to obtain 
the funds necessary to carry on work, 
which could not be omitted, convinced 
all that some remedy must be found. 
Hence, to provide the funds necessary 
to continue the operation of these agen- 
cies and institutions, and to relieve the 
generous ones who freely gave to every 
worthy cause from being over-burdened 
with appeals for assistance, it was de- 
termined to have a single agency for 
the collection of all funds. In doing 
this, it was hoped that the promiscu- 
ous begging, so annoying to the gener- 
al public, would be eliminated, and the 
duplication, which so frequently fol- 
lows where there is a lack of co-ordina- 
tion and proper supervision, avoided. 

All Catholics in the Archdiocese of 
Chicago were invited to become mem- 
bers of the Associated Catholic Char- 
ities, and to contribute such sums as 
their financial condition warranted, 
with the understanding that a yearly 
contribution to the Associated Cath- 
olic Charities would exempt them from 
making other donations to Catholic 
Charities for one year. 

The annual meeting of the Associa- 
ated Catholic Charities for 1922 tells 
the story of its success. 

The annual report indicated that 
$639,000 was donated to charity during 
the year 1921, which is $122,000 more 
than was donated during the previous 
year. "Demands for help from the 
poor, the sick and the orphan have in- 
creased to such an extent that this 
huge sum was insufficient to carry on 
the work, and it was necessary to bor- 



SOCIAL WORK OF THE CHURCH. 



131 



row $85,000 to meet the demands. The 
spirit of co-operation among the work- 
ers was most commendable. The 
pastors worked zealously to fulfill the 
quota assigned to their parishes." 

The operating expense of collect- 
ing and distributing the funds was 9 
per cent, which indicates that 91 cents 
of every dollar collected was expended 
directly for charity. 

Supervisor's Report. 

The Rev. Moses E. Kiley, Diocesan 
Supervisor of Charities, reported that 
service was rendered 58,649 times to 
6,374 families in their homes, approxi- 
mately 9,620 adults and 17,817 child- 
dren, making in all 27,437 persons who 
received either shelter, food, fuel, cloth- 
ing, medical care, etc. The Associated 
Catholic Charities also assisted thirty- 
five institutions. 

An investment of $2,000,000, in what 
he considered the only gilt-edged se- 
curity — human hearts and human souls 
— was related by Archbishop George 
W. Mundelein. The high lights of 
Archbishop Mundelein 's address in- 
cluded the following: 

The Archbishop pointed out that the 
4,000 children in the institutions in the 
archdiocese cost the state $50 per capita 
per year and the Associated Catholic 
Charities about $80 per capita. That 
altogether they cost the state approxi- 
mately $250,000 per year and the Asso- 
ciated Catholic Charities $400,000 per 
year. This was a saving to the state 
of practically $400,000 in the cost of 
the care of the children as compared 
with the per capita cost for similar 
care in another model home for chil- 



dren conducted by a large fraternal 
society. 

The Deaf Mutes. 

The Knights de l'Epee, an associa- 
tion of deaf mutes, was founded in 
Chicago, December 18, 1910, and in- 
corporated the following year. The 
membership includes Catholic deaf 
men between the ages of eighteen and 
fifty-five, and its objects include the 
giving of moral and material aid to 
its members, the maintenance of a 
fund for the relief of distress, the as- 
sistance of widows and orphans of the 
deceased and the uplift and education 
of Catholic deaf children as well as 
the support of Catholic chaplains en- 
gaged in missionary work among the 
deaf. 

The society derives its name and 
inspiration from the immortal founder 
of the sign language, the Abbe Charles 
Michael de l'Epee. It now has coun- 
cils in Chicago, New York, Cincinnati, 
Newark, Boston, Buffalo, Philadelphia, 
Pittsburgh, Lowell, Scranton, Balti- 
more, Providence, Atlantic City, Mil- 
waukee, Manchester and Washington. 

The supreme officers are Arthur G. 
Clark, Whitinsville, Mass., Supreme 
R night; Edward F. Toomey, Chicago, 
Supreme Secretary; Elmer E. Scott, 
Philadelphia, Supreme Treasurer ; Rev. 
P. A. Gilmore, Buffalo, Supreme Chap- 
lain. 

The Blind. 

New York Catholics have a beauti- 
ful new home for the little blind 
children of the archdiocese in charge of 
the Dominican Sisters. Spacious 



132 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



grounds afford ample opportunity for 
future development. Brooklyn and 
Newark, also, have homes conducted 
by the diocese. In Boston, Chicago, in 
fact all large cities, there are arrange- 
ments by which Catholic patients are 
cared for and receive instruction in 
the state institutions. Father Joseph 
Stadelman, S. J., has devoted his life 
to the apostolate of supplying Catho- 
lic literature for the use of the blind. 

Chicago has an excellent institution 
in the Ephpheta School for the Deaf. 
This has been conducted for some years 
with very gratifying results by the 
Fathers of St. Viator's Normal Insti- 
tute. As in the case of the blind use- 
ful trades and industries are taught to 
over one hundred boys and girls. Mutes 
are given special attention. One in- 
stitution in New York cared for 260 
deaf mutes in an atmosphere of useful 
training. The work of the Church 
centers upon the afflicted in the effort 
to ease their burden and to furnish in 
an acceptable way the religious in- 
struction which would otherwise be de- 
nied them. 

The Boy in a Large City. 

It is only recently that the large 
cities awoke to the knowledge that the 
boys living within their confines had 
problems of their own to solve. Pre- 
viously the boy had received little at- 
tention, except when he forced him- 
self upon public notice, with the hand 
of a policeman on his collar. And this 
happened so frequently that finally 
the existence of a boy problem became 
evident. Perhaps the "baby bandits" 
which terrorized Chicago in 1915 did 



more to bring home this realization 
than anything else. The sight of boys 
in knickerbockers with gun and dis- 
guise imitating the old time holdup 
men in a large city was a shock at 
least. 

Previous to this a reorganization of 
the judiciary was effected so as to re- 
ceive all minors in a Juvenile Court. 
Here all junior delinquents were taken. 
The report of the first year's workings 
in this court was startling. Ten thou- 
sand boys were arrested in Chicago 
in 1914. The charges varied, covering 
the range of serious crimes and dwind- 
ling down to the petty and the ridicu- 
lous. From murder to playing ball 
on the street is a far cry, yet it repre- 
sents the range of offences for which 
the boys were dragged into this court. 
Seventy-six per cent of these offenders 
were discharged after a hearing. When- 
ever possible the offender was put on 
probation, as confinement in jail would 
mean contact with hardened criminals, 
and place the boy a bit farther from 
reformation than when he entered. 

But even arrest brands the boy. His 
experience in the police station where 
he was held, this court trial, all of 
it, in fact, makes an experience which 
hurts. And Catholic boys were not 
lacking in numbers, there being too 
high a representation of parochial 
school pupils and graduates. 

City life has forced one in every 
ten of our boys into a criminal. It is 
for us to discover what influences our 
Church has developed to help the boy 
keep afloat in the city's sea of tempta- 
tion. Every parish has its club and 
other influences with which to occupy 



SOCIAL WORK OF THE CHURCH. 



133 



the boy at night. The parish sodality 
is always working towards this end. 
Chicago has a diocesan nnion of Ger- 
man Catholic Societies for young men. 
There is the National Catholic Ath- 
letic Association which furthers a un- 
ion of the Church young men in all 
branches of sport. The Knights of 
Columbus also has a systematized or- 
ganization to promote athletics. There 
are several social centers excellently 
managed and very successful, and the 
Holy Name Society has a Big Brother 
Movement for Catholic boys' protecto- 
rate. Social workers are at the courts, 
to investigate charges made against the 
boy, his home conditions, relations, 
parish influences. Other societies 
which have been active along these lines 
elsewhere have promised to help. It 
seems certain that work among the 
boys will soon be as flourishing and 
as successful as are so many of the 
Church's activities throughout the 
country. 

Sisters in Redemption Work. 

In many of the activities of the Sis- 
ters, other organizations share. Hos- 
pital work is taken up even by private 
corporations. Charitable endeavor of 
different sort is in charge of the cities 
and their governments. But there is 
one form of charity which stands alone 
in the care of the Sisters of the Good 
Shepherd. The aim of the institute, 
known to the world as the Good Shep- 
herd, is to provide a shelter for girls 
and women of dissolute habits, who 
wish to do penance for their iniquities 
and to lead a truly Christian life. Not 
only voluntary penitents are received, 



but also those consigned by civil or 
parental authority. Many of these 
penitents desire to remain for life; 
they are admitted to take vows, and 
they form the class of "magdalens," 
under the direction of the sister. Many 
of these "magdalens" rise to an emi- 
nent degree of sanctity. Besides girls 
and women of this class, the order ad- 
mits children, who have been secured 
from danger, before they have fallen 
or been stained by serious crime. They 
are instructed in habits of industry and 
self-respect, and in the duties they 
owe to themselves and to society. The 
"penitents," "magdalens," and "pres- 
ervates" form perfectly distinct class- 
es, completely segregated from each 
other. 

The Good Shepherd's words to the 
Magdalene, "Go in peace; thy sins 
are forgiven," form the keynote of 
all this redemption endeavor. Love, 
working through penitence, restored 
the balance of the moral order in that 
case, so well known to all, and it forms 
the basis of all the reconstructive mea- 
sures employed by the Church, and 
in active service under the direction of 
the Good Shepherd sisters. It is the 
way of the Good Shepherd; it finds 
beautiful expression in the institutions 
consecrated by this touching name of 
the Savior. That we can be saved 
only through Christ is as true in soci- 
ology as in religion. The social evil 
always will afflict our cities, an evidence 
of human weakness or human malice. 
But they are working most effectively 
to lessen the evil, who instill into the 
souls of the coming generation princi- 
ples of self-restraint not founded on 



134 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



appeals to the child's budding sense of 
social justice, as most reformers do, 
but only upon the grace of God. Only 
Him who made the soul can heal it, 
and the woman with the sin-wrecked 
soul brings it to Him and lays it at 
His feet, through the ministrations of 
the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. 

Good Shepherd Sisters. 

The Sisters of the Good Shepherd 
are a cloistered order and follow the 
rule of St. Augustine. Known as ' ' Our 
Lady of Charity of the Refuge," it 
was founded by Blessed John Eudes, 
at Caen, France, in 1641. As it existed 
primitively, there are about thirty- 
nine houses in active working today. 
The difference between this and the 
one we know as the Good Shepherd 
Sisters consists mainly in the admin- 
istration. Mother Mary Euphrasia 
Pelletier, superioress at Tours, in 1835, 
broadened the activities of the order, 
and the sisters were authorized by the 
Pope to extend throughout the world. 
In 1901, the order counted 232 houses, 
24 provinces, 7,044 sisters and 43,159 
subjects under its care. They have 
eleven provinces in Europe, two in 
Africa, nine in North America and 
five in South America. 

Besides the three ordinary vows of 
poverty, chastity and obedience, the 
sisters take a fourth vow, namely to 
work for the conversion and instruct- 
ion of penitents. The vows are renewed 
each year for five years, before becom- 
ing perpetual. The order is composed 
of choir sisters, and lay or "converse" 
sisters. The "choir" sisters recite 
each day the office of the Blessed Vir- 



gin. They wear a black veil ; the ' ' con- 
verse" sisters a white veil. Besides 
these, the order also admits "Tour- 
iere" sisters, who attend the door and 
perform other necessary duties outside 
the cloister. Their habit is black, and 
they take only the three ordinary vows. 

The Social Evil. 

Speaking of all that has been written 
about the social evil, and the efforts 
of reformers to combat this old-as-the- 
world canker in our affairs, not to 
mention the efforts of the state to legis- 
late against the grave disorder in 
question, Father Joseph Keating, in 
an article in the "Month," July, 1916, 
lays down some sound principles, which 
all Catholics interested in the subject 
should bear in mind. 

He particularly directs his reasoning 
against the idea, inculcated in state 
activities, that the evil should be recog- 
nized as inevitable, that the physical 
consequences of sin should be given 
first consideration. He decrys the evi- 
dent neglect in teaching the elevation 
of the moral sense, and urges that from 
first to last the teachings of Christ 
should never be ignored. 

"Nothing can combat the evil in all 
its bearings, and keep the soul as well 
as the body healthy, except the practice 
of virtue." Sins of impurity lessen 
or increase among a people according 
to the degree in which the teaching 
of Christ on the subject is accepted. 
"If the physical disease is to be sup- 
pressed, the moral disease which pre- 
cedes and engenders it must first be 
overcome. All other remedies are but 
palliatives." Father Keating then 



SOCIAL WORK OF THE CHURCH. 



135 



summarizes as follows what the Catho- 
lic Church as the watchful guardian 
of purity has done for the state : 

"By the express injunction of its 
Founder, it made voluntary virginity 
a higher ideal than even Christian 
marriage. Its teaching on the virtue 
of chastity is definite, clear, and un- 
compromising. None of its children 
who have studied its catechism can 
be ignorant on this important point. 
It stigmatizes as grievous sins all 
deliberate offences, were they only 
in thought or desire against purity. 
It braces the weak human will and 
tames the strung human passions by 
constant recourse to the means of 
grace, prayer and the Sacraments, 
until appetite is brought thoroughly 
into subjection to the rational will. 
It sets before Christian youth con- 
spicuous models of virtue, the Queen 
of Virgins especially, and the saints 
remarkable for purity of life, and 
bands them together in sodalities for 
mutual support. It preaches moder- 
ation in the use of matrimonial priv- 
ileges and denounces all abuse of them. 
It opposes with all its force the system 
of successive polygamy introduced by 
divorce. It thus uses every means, 
natural and supernatural, to keep 
this strong animal instinct in due 
bounds and it attains wonderful success 
in its efforts. St. Augustine, who was 
enslaved by the evil habit, would have 
despaired of permanently breaking his 
bonds but for the chaste example of 
the Christian youths and maidens 
around him, and that phenomenon has 
persisted to this day. The superior 
morality of Catholic boarding schools 



is acknowledged tacitly or openly by 
thousands of non-Catholics, and that 
morality is mainly due to the light 
and strength afforded by the Church." 

The Church, moreover, has never tol- 
erated for an instant the doctrine that 
sins of impurity are unavoidable, she 
has never regarded as inevitable what 
is euphemistically termed "sowing 
one's wild oats," and she has never 
accepted the so-called "double stand- 
ard." The pagans of our day, how- 
ever, shamelessly and persistently 
teach that sexual promiscuity is uni- 
versal, pardonable, "natural," "nec- 
essary" and even "wholesome." Con- 
sequently public opinion regarding the 
social evil has become so perverted 
that outside the Church correct princi- 
ples concerning the obligation and 
practicability of personal purity for 
both men and women are becoming 
' ' unpopular. ' ' All the more important, 
therefore, is it that Catholic publicists 
should thoroughly understand and 
fearlessly defend the Church's attitude 
toward the social evil. 

Lessons in Decency. 

Mr. Anthony Matre, K. S. G., Na- 
tional Secretary of the American Fed- 
eration of Catholic Societies, called 
attention some time ago to the ener- 
getic efforts made by the Federation 
in many cities, in the interest of mor- 
ality. The following figures chronicle 
the result of the labors in St. Louis 
alone : 

The Federation there caused the 
elimination of 26,983 improper post- 
cards; had nearly 1,000 improper 
pictures and statues removed from 



136 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



saloons and stores; caused the confis- 
cation of 200 indecent stereopticon 
views; caused the suppression of all 
white slave films and several ob- 
jectionable moving picture films; had 
6,500 indecent blotters destroyed and 
2,000 improper pennants suppressed; 
one "black-listed" play was not per- 
mitted to show in St. Louis on com- 
plaint of Federation, and objectionable 
features in other plays were elimi- 
nated ; suggestive animal dances were 
ordered stopped by the police on com- 
plaint of Federation and 1,174 indecent 
books and pamphlets were destroyed 
or delivered up to Federation, besides 
a wagon-load of uncounted objection- 
able books. The public morals com- 
mittee of the St. Louis Federation 
has subdivided its work in keeping 
St. Louis clean and has sub-committees 
on "Saloons," "Press," "Advertise- 
ments", "Drug Stores", "Dance 
Halls", "Theatres and Moving Picture 
Shows", "Penny Arcades." The mem- 
bers of these sub-committees are ever 
cn the alert and are co-operating with 
the city authorities. 

In Cincinnati and Hamilton County, 
the Federation has succeeded in sup- 
pressing black-listed plays and is keep- 
ing a vigilant eye on every form of 
vice, while co-operating likewise with 
other agencies toward the general pub- 
lic betterment. In Erie, New Orleans, 
Dayton, Grand Rapids, Toledo, Kan- 
sas City and St. Joseph, Mo., it has 
made its power felt in the same direc- 
tion, contributing effective "Lessons 
in Decency" to those who care more 
for gold than virtue. In the Federa- 
tion, properly supported and fully de- 



veloped, Catholics should possess one 
of their mightiest influences for good. 

The Old Fashioned Home. 

The world of today needs the influ- 
ence of the old-fashioned home? Give 
us the old-fashioned mother, the old- 
fashioned father, the old-fashioned 
number in the family, the old-fashioned 
home. Let our homes be what they 
should be, and the security of the 
Church and nation is assured. Reform 
of the home is the shortest cut to civil 
and religious reform. Anarchists, So- 
cialists, feminists and numbers of many 
scores of leagues and associations and 
thousands of clubs are bound to- 
gether not by agreements nor even 
consciously, but by what can be called 
the modern anti-home movement. This 
action, apparently independent, tend- 
ing inevitably to the destruction of 
home, is momentous, and potentially 
irresistible by human power. Let 
mothers make the home clean, cheery, 
attractive and happy. Let fathers be 
not mere providers, but the agreeable 
companions and the chums of their 
children. Let the home be the great 
moral class-room where the plant of 
religion is nurtured from the tender- 
cst shoot until it grows and unfolds 
in the perfect moral bloom of its ma- 
turity. Restore religion to its place of 
honor in the home. Let the home be the 
club-house of the family, parents throw 
open the doors of your home to the 
friends of your children. Let every 
legitimate and uplifting amusement 
within your means find place in your 
home. Parents, labor patiently, seri- 
ously, heroically, if need be, to make 



SOCIAL WORK OF THE CHURCH. 



137 



all in the home happy. Teach your 
children from infancy the joy of un- 
selfishness, and instill into their young 
minds that this lesson has its daily 
and its most important application in 
the home. Prove that the home is not 
merely a lodging-house nor a restau- 
rant where meal-tickets may be re- 
deemed. 

In recent years we have witnessed 
the rapid and appalling increase of 
insanity in social, political and re- 
ligious life. While we deplore the 
evils which weaken and destroy home 
life, yet it is with great fear that we 
speculate on the form of insanity that 
will succeed it. Fads and fashions 
have been going from bad to worse. 
Let all the forces of the Catholic home 
unite in strengthening the home — the 
old-fashioned home. And from the 
regenerated, happy, religious home we 
shall have a people quickened to the 
sense of its civil duties and watchful 
of its moral responsibilities. 

The Church's Care for the Dead. 

The Church has ever exercised the 
most tender solicitude in choosing the 
place of burial for her departed. In 
early times she gathered them to her 
bosom, even as a fond mother, un- 
willing to be separated from her dead 
offspring. Her children carried with 
scrupulous care the blood stained bod- 
ies of the martyred sons and daughters 
to her place of sanctuary in the cata- 
combs, those under ground sacred 
abodes in which she hid from the pro- 
faning hand of persecution and where 
her heroic champions rested was holy 
ground. Filled with faith, her child- 



ren came to these tombs to pray, and 
when their last hour came they sought 
the privilege of being buried near the 
martyrs, that even in death they might 
be associated with those whom they had 
loved and venerated for their sanctity, 
and might benefit by the prayers of 
those who would take their places in 
supplication at these renowned shrines. 
And the inscriptions which attest this 
practice are read to-day by the pious 
pilgrims who still visit these early 
burial places of our brothers in the 
faith. 

Cemeteries. 

When the Church was free to leave 
the catacombs, and build her temples 
above ground, she took the treasured 
remains of the martyrs with her and 
placed them under her altars. Then 
her children sought sanctuary for their 
tombs within her consecrated precincts. 
But for want of space, this privilege 
was limited to emperors, kings, and 
bishops, and the custom of burial 
around the outside of the church be- 
gan, and her cemeteries were called 
churchyards. Later even this space 
became too small, and burial places 
had to be chosen at a distance. But 
they still belonged to the Church, were 
still regarded as sacred property, and 
were still called churchyards. And, 
like her temples, they were and are 
solemnly blessed. Like the Church, 
they belong to God, they are God's 
acres, the cemeteries, or sleeping places 
of His departed whom He shall one 
day awaken for their eternal reward. 

The Church never, therefore, recog- 
nizes a separation between herself and 



138 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



her children. She belongs to God and 
her children belong to God, not for a 
period of time only, but forever. She 
stands beside the bedside of her dying 
and prepares them for death. Her 
minister hears the last confession, he 
administers the Viaticum, the sacred 
body and blood of our Divine Savior, 
which is the soul's food for the dread 
journey into the valley of death, and 
anoints the dying person's body with 
the consecrated oils. 

And therefore the Church is not will- 
ing that as the body crumbles into 
dust, it shall mix with unconsecrated 
soil, but using the power her Divine 
Founder has given her, she selects a 
place, which she consecrates to the 
service of God a sanctuary of rest for 
the bodies of His saints, bodies which 
He has redeemed by His precious blood 
and sanctified by the sacraments of 
his Church. 

Social Reconstruction. 

A general review of the problems 
of the times and a survey of remedies 
was this pamphlet, issued by the Na- 
tional Catholic War Council, Admin- 
istration Committee, in the days that 
followed the great war. 

This pamphlet attracted world 
wide attention as a fearless, master- 
ful pronouncement. The Catholic 
Church in America was shown as in 
days of old, ready to point out the 
solution of world problems by def- 
inition of principles long ago laid 
down by Jesus Christ. Millions of 
these pamphlets were circulated. The 
effect upon thinking men and women 
cannot be estimated. 



The pamphlet's essential declara- 
tions are based on the principles of 
charity and justice that have always 
been held and taught by the Catholic 
Church, while *ts practical proposals 
are merely an adaptation of those 
principles, and that traditional teach- 
ing to the social and industrial con- 
ditions of our own time. 

Yet, here again the Church proves 
itself a friend of the people, a de- 
fender of their interest against op- 
pressors. Friends of labor should 
know this pamphlet as any other 
form of industrial literature. 

The Bishops who signed this re- 
markable document were : Rt. Rev. 
P. J. Muldoon, D. D., Rockford, 111.; 
Rt. Rev. Jos. Schrembs, D. D., Cleve- 
land; Most Rev. P. J. Hayes, D. D., 
New York; Rt. Rev. Wm. T. Russell, 
D. D., Charleston. 

The pamphlet may be obtained 
from the offices of the National Catho 
lie Welfare Council, 1312 Massachu- 
setts Ave., Washington. 

The Bishops Pastoral Letter. 

No more important document ever 
appeared than the Bishops' Pastoral 
Letter read from every Catholic pul- 
pit in America in January, 1920. 

It was the united utterance of every 
American Cardinal, Archbishop and 
Bishop, the first since the Baltimore 
Council of 1884. 

The pastoral letter expressed the 
views of the Bishops concerning the 
problems of the period, containing 
other recommendations, yet emphasis 
was placed upon the crisis which then 
faced civilization, the acute struggle 



SOCIAL WORK OF THE CHURCH. 



139 



between the forces of law and order, 
of atheism and religion. These rea- 
sons alone, combined with the thor- 
oughness of the letter and its literary 
excellence, gave it a significance of 
unparalleled importance. 

Wide attention was attracted to it. 
Students of affairs gave it thorough 
consideration. The letter took its 
place as a pronouncement of great 
value in the solution of national pro- 
blems. 

The Red Flag. 

Intelligent workers are well aware 
of efforts made to pervert their or- 
ganizations by those who hate all 
government and would destroy where 
they cannot rebuild. The miners' 
strike and the railroad shopmen's 
troubles in 1922 had instances of un- 
speakable horrors, which the public 
too readily blamed upon the strikers. 
In no case was this proved. 

Rather is there every reason to be- 
lieve that irresponsible radicals took 
advantage of the crisis to perform 
these overt acts to discredit the cause 
of the workers. These men have for 
years tried to get control of unions 
and have failed. The strike in Se- 
attle in 1919 was clear demonstration 
of Bolsheviki attempt to get a strangle 
hold upon our country. Industrial 
"Workers of the World there fought 
bitterly for control. 

Our people should try to compre- 
hend what the red flag has always 
meant. It has generally followed the 
wake of war. The story of the ter- 
rible days that followed the war be- 
tween France and Germany is still 



fresh in the minds of many of us. 
They called themselves Communists. 
Today they are Bolsheviki or Indus- 
trial Workers. When the last Ger- 
man division left Paris the Commun- 
ists started their orgy of murder and 
destruction. Groups of priests were 
stood in front of walls and shot down. 
Part of the National Guard was cor- 
rupted and two distinguished French 
generals were put to death without 
even pretense of trial. Public monu- 
ments and historic buildings were 
razed to the ground. Even the great 
gallery of the Tuileries and Louvre 
with its library did not escape the 
brand of these mad iconoclasts. When 
the national troops were closing upon 
them, men and women began the work 
of firing the city. Their mad fury 
was quenched only when the military 
forces swept the streets with their 
machine guns and left twenty thous- 
and dead Communists in the streets 
of Paris. 

The spirit that animates the Com- 
munist or the Bolshevist has no place 
in America. It is an enemy to free- 
dom, to the honest endeavors of the 
workingman. It is opposed to the 
best instincts of humanity and the 
right. 

Single Tax. 

Advocates of Single Tax frequently 
make the statement that many good 
Catholics subscribe to their theories, 
and that nothing contrary to Catholic 
principles is to be found in them. 

An answer to such claims will be 
found in the pamphlet, "Single Tax 
and Its Cleveland Champions" by 



140 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Father Betten, S. J. The theory of 
Henry George, that private property 
in land is an enormous wrong, that 
nobody can rightfully own a single 
square foot of land, and that only the 
civil authority may really be the law- 
ful possessor of the soil, is evidently 
in direct opposition to the teachings 
of the Encyclical of Pope Leo XIII 
"On the Conditions of the Work- 
ing Classes." No one realized this 
more perfectly than Henry George 
himself when he wrote his open an- 
swer to the Holy Father's Encyclical. 
That Catholics may not lend their 
support to the promotion of this the- 
ory is therefore clear. Confusion 
arises, as the author points out, from 
the introduction of entirely foreign 
elements into the single-tax move- 
ment. Similar methods of confusing 
the issue are equally popular with 
Socialists in their political campaigns. 
Inheritance taxes, revenues levied on 
franchises and monopolies, and the 
unearned increment tax are all con- 
founded by ardent promoters with the 
single-tax theory, though they have 
no connection whatsoever with it. The 
justification given for such a procedure 
is that the people are not as yet pre- 
pared "to grasp the whole truth of 
the single tax." The final aim, how- 
ever, as the name of the movement 
itself implies, if it has any signifi- 
cance at all, is that all other taxes 
are gradually to be removed until the 
tax on land value alone is left. 

The Church teaches that the own- 
ership of private property is justified, 
even if there be abuses, not only in 
Pope Leo's masterly Encyclical, but 



in the Motu Proprio of Pius X, De- 
cember, 1903. Catholics are, there- 
fore, not permitted to give support 
to any theory as "erroneous and per- 
nicious" as Single Tax. 

Communism. 

In a general sense, Communism re- 
fers to the social system in which all 
property, at least productive prop- 
erty, is owned by the Community, 
and not by individuals. Thus under- 
stood, it comprises Communistic 
Anarchism, Socialism, and Commun- 
ism in a strict sense. Communistic 
Anarchism would abolish not only 
private property, but also govern- 
ment. Socialism means collective 
ownership and management of prop- 
erty. Communism in a strict sense 
means that both production-goods 
(land, railways and factories^, and 
consumption-goods (dwellings, food 
and clothing), should belong to the 
community. Today, Communism is 
not meant in a strict sense, bu' as 
outlined in the opening part of this 
paragraph. 

The Communistic principle gov- 
erned, for a time, the conduct of the 
early Christians in Jerusalem. But 
this was entirely voluntary on their 
part. The Apostles taught that 
Christians were entirely free to re- 
tain private property. This spon- 
taneous arrangement did not long 
continue, nor was it taken up by any 
other bodies for many centuries. 
The Eeligious Communities within the 
Church practice common ownership, 
but their primary object is religious 
They have never at any time had so- 



SOCIAL WORK OF THE CHURCH. 



141 



cial reform as an object. Spiritual 
improvement and the better fulfill- 
ment of their mission are the ends 
sought. And they know, as do we 
all, that their community life is suited 
only to the few. 

Sir Thomas More's "Utopia/' 
(1516), is a romantic account of an 
ideal commonwealth, economic, not 
military or religious. According to 
his ideas, all goods are held and en- 
joyed in common. All meals are held 
at public tables. The work was to 
be done by convicted criminals. There 
was nothing farther, except the ful- 
fillment of Christian teachings. There 
was to be no community of wivos 
which formed a prominent feature in 
development of communistic life in 
later years. Other writers have for 
years been advocating an ideal state 
in which all the evils of present sys- 
tems of government were to be rem- 
edied. Most of them inclined toward 
a system in which there would be 
compulsory labor, proportioned to 
all, and a public distribution of prof- 
its according to individual needs. 
The State was to be a director of 
energy and industry, assigning tasks 
in proportion to capacity and ability, 
and wages in proportion to work. 
Community houses, in which all lived 
together, going through the day's 
duties in common, and community 
shops in which all received credit — 
these, and many such ideas were pro- 
posed. 

The idea of equality sought by 
Communism is well meant, but im- 
practical, and a mistaken interpre- 
tation of the great truth, that as per- 



sons and in the sight of God, all hu- 
man beings are equal, having the 
same ultimate destiny and essen- 
tially the same needs. And it is in 
the development of the ideas sug- 
gested by a consideration of this 
truth, into which grave errors creep. 
The verdict of experience, the nature 
of man and the attitude of the Church, 
all assume that complete Communism 
will never be adopted by any con- 
siderable section of the people. The 
Church, as shown in Pope Leo XIII 's 
Encyclical, "Rerum Novarum," con- 
demns universal, compulsory or le- 
gally enforced Communism, as she 
maintains the natural right of every 
individual to possess private prop- 
erty. The theories condemned in that 
encyclical under the name of Social- 
ism certainly include Communism as 
described above. 

Home Happiness. 

Did you ever stop to think of the 
value of a smiling face ? In your home, 
half of life's evils vanish before a 
cheerful and contented manner. But 
you ask : How can I be contented and 
cheerful in manner when I am not in 
fact? That is the point about which 
we write. Why are you not cheerful 
and contented? There never was a 
home, however plain and full of sad 
things, which did not possess many 
good things. "Whenever one sits down 
and sighs, "I have nothing, or I want 
this or that to make me happy," they 
begin to live among unreal things and 
to be miserable for nothing. Happi- 
ness does not depend upon what we 
have, but upon the use we make of 



142 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



what we have. If your house is ill- 
arrayed or uncomfortable, begin to 
plan how you can most easily im- 
prove it. If you have but little, plan 
how you can make the most of it and 
find pleasure in the employment it 
gives you. 

Envy of others is the greatest ob- 
stacle. When we cannot appear as well 
as others, nor have what others have, 
we at once undervalue what we possess ; 
and yet, it is so true, not one in a 
thousand is crowded out of society be- 
cause of lack of worldly possessions. A 
cheerful face, a courteous manner, a 
blithe heart, can win worthy compan- 
ionship anywhere in this world in spite 
of all else that may be lacking. Thou- 
sands who find themselves ostracized 
from good society think it is because 
they are poor that they are not appre- 
ciated; while the truth is they have 
brooded over their poverty and com- 
pared it with the wealth of their for- 
tunate neighbors, and have mourned 
over their lot and have hidden them- 
selves away from sight until their os- 
tracism is the result of their own false 
estimate of things. People will not 
hunt for us who have all they need 
without us ; but if we let them see that 
we bow to no man's possessions, and 
that we are happy-hearted in spite of 
pressing necessities, the very fact that 
we will bring sunshine and gladness 
where we go will not only make us 



welcome, but will make us a necessity. 
When we can forget finery and remem- 
ber that those who possess it are not 
really happier than others for that 
reason, we will possess the true key. 

Contentment can be learned. We 
should cultivate simple tastes. We 
should look for something others can- 
not see in all that comes to us, and we 
should remember, to live for society 
is to live for discontent and evil. Home 
is the place for the deep and abiding 
flow of life's great stream, and here 
is the place where true enjoyment will 
find use if it ever does. All other so- 
ciety is as the passing of a panorama; 
but our home life abides with us, fash- 
ions and molds us, feeds and beauti- 
fies us, or in it we dwarf and perish. 
As we think, we live. Begin brooding 
over evil and it is upon us. Think of 
sad things and we grow sad-hearted 
and weary of life. The reverse is also 
true. Dropping the shadows and tak- 
ing up only the sunlights, be they ever 
so small, and the light will increase 
while the shadow will fly away. One 
good friend is worth a thousand un- 
tried ones. One cheerful day in the old 
home is worth a thousand days else- 
where. The laugh of the ball-room is 
the hysteria of stimulant ; and reaction 
will come in the quiet of the home. The 
true life is reversed, and the happiest 
heart is often the quiet and reserved 
one under public gaze. 



CHAPTER Vn. 

Church Care of the Workers. 

Bishop Carroll on Unions — Evolution of the Laborer — What Unions Stand 
For — The Federation — Character of Leaders — Memberships — Advantages — Trade 
Guilds — Employment in Old Days — Feudal System — Catholics in the Cause — New 
Legislation— Women and Child Labor— Church Care of Labor — Bishops and Re- 
construction — Sabotage — The I. W. W. — Strike Violence — Bolshevism — Problem of 
Unemployment — Dr. Ryan's Views. 



Labor Unions. 

The Church has always favored the 
union of workingmen, unless banded 
together in a cause that was distinctly 
unjust. But there is very little op- 
portunity or desire for this to-day. 
Few cases are found where there is 
occasion for reproof. Charges are made 
frequently, but they alight on individu- 
als only. The policy of union invari- 
ably is one of high ideals for which 
all members strive, and because of what 
they have in view, no less than for what 
they have done, the unions are to be 
commended. Catholic men and women 
are prominent in the work of develop- 
ment, taking their part in a grand 
work which is illustrated by a state- 
ment of defense issued by the Union 
men themselves. 

"Trade unionism aims to afford the 
workers an opportunity to appreciate 
a liberal proportion of the desirable 
things of life; it quickens their intel- 
lects by giving them the means, time, 
and opportunity for mind culture; it 
gives them something for which to be 
truly thankful, and its entire pro- 



gramme prepares the way for the en- 
livenment of spirituality. 

Child Labor. 

It does more. Thousands of chil- 
dren, emancipated from the grind of 
the mine, the mill, and the workshop, 
through its efforts are blessed to-day, 
and myriads of childish voices will be 
raised in loud hosannas in the future 
proclaiming their redemption from a 
condition that stunted life and men- 
aced coming generations. The children 
are one of the special cares of the labor 
union; their salvation from industrial 
slavery during their tender years will 
make it possible for them to become 
strong men and women, intellectually, 
physically and spiritually. In this the 
unions are obeying the command of 
Him who said ; ' ' Inasmuch as ye have 
done it unto one of the least of these 
my brethren, ye have done it unto 
Me:" "Suffer little children, and for- 
bid them not, to come unto Me ; for of 
such is the kindom of Heaven." 

Women Labor. 

The women are another special 



144 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



care of the trade unions and their in- 
terests are zealously guarded by the or- 
ganizations of the workers. For them 
are demanded all the conditions that 
will enable them to live and earn their 
living without harm or detriment to 
themselves or the generations that may 
come after them. 

The principle of Unions is built on 
the strong, broad foundation of hu- 
manity. The Union's doors are open 
and its hands always outstretched in 
welcome to the humblest and oppressed 
cf earth. Its mission is the redemption 
of the workers from the bondage of in- 
dustrial slavery, and it welcomes the 
co-operation of all lovers of mankind. 

Like all great reform movements, 
trades-unionism has had and has many 
bitter opponents. It is continually re- 
viled and maligned in the most op- 
probrious manner. Its representatives 
are calumniated and often persecuted. 
All great advanced movements have 
encountered like experiences. The early 
Christian Church encountered fearful 
opposition. Its Founder was despised 
and rejected of men, and died the 
death of a common malefactor. His 
followers were accused of all manner 
of heinous crimes, and martyrdom was 
their common inheritance. Other 
movements met similar experiences, as 
did many advanced workers whose 
only crime was a desire to advance 
the interests of society and mankind 
in general. 

At all times and under all circum- 
stances, have many honest but non- 
inquiring minds been deceived by un- 
warranted attacks and become unwit- 
tingly poisoned against a cause built 



upon the broadest possible foundation 
of humanity. 

Trades-unionism is accused of ty- 
ranny and lawlessness. Its opponents 
are always active. The public press 
and every available channel of pub- 
licity is used to hurl their defiances 
and denunciations broadcast against 
the labor unions and their representa- 
tives. Faults of an individual are al- 
ways the signal for an attack upon 
the organization, and the officials of 
the unions are accused of inciting, aid- 
ing, and abetting crime. The position 
of the opponents of organized labor 
and of those who support and believe 
in such a policy is not only ridiculous, 
but unjust. If the same attitude were 
displayed in other cases, or did the 
unionists retaliate and use the same 
policy, a continual cry would go up 
for the destruction and abolition of 
banks, professions, and organizations 
of every description by reason of the 
mistakes, faults and oftimes mis- 
demeanors of some of their members. 

Labor unions do not retaliate very 
often, but have been exceedingly long- 
suffering in this matter, inasmuch as 
the offenses proven against even their 
individual members are outnumbered 
a hundred percent or more by the 
offenses of many business, mercantile, 
and fraternal organizations. It is not 
just to judge an organization by the 
misdeeds of some of its members. Its 
desirable achievements, its efforts in 
behalf of worthy objects, and its ideas 
are a better measure of judgment. 

The record of trades unionism speaks 
for itself, and while it has many op- 
ponents, it has had and has many 



CHURCH CARE OF THE WORKERS. 145 



defenders, among a goodly proportion 
cf the great of our land, some of whom 
have passed away, while others still 
live, raising their voices and contribut- 
ing their support in the promulgation 
of its doctrines. 

Bishop Carroll on Labor Unions. 

The great part taken by the Catholic 
Church in social reform and her stand 
for the rights of the laboring man 
formed the basis of a pastoral letter 
once sent by the Rt. Eev. J. J. Carroll, 
D. D., bishop of Helena, Mont., to 
his parish priests on the subject of 
"Labor Day." 

After treating of the work done by 
prelates, both in the old country and 
the new, Bishop Carroll continued: 

"Carroll S. Wright, our former em- 
inent commissioner of labor, has said, 
'I consider the Encyclical of Leo XIII 
on the labor question has given the 
foundation for the proper study of 
social science in this country. It is 
a (vade mecum) with me, and I know 
that it has an immense influence in 
steadying the public mind.' With 
good reason, then, do the toiling masses 
on their feast-day rejoice with their 
Holy Mother and hail her with that 
glorious title — which contempt has 
sometimes applied to her — 'The 
Church of the poor and the working 
classes.' 

Evolution of the Laborer. 

"Then it should be remembered that 
modern unionism was the outgrowth 
of conditions that made it neccessary. 
The guilds of the Middle Ages, which 
protected the workingman and ob- 



tained for him justice and social rec- 
ognition, were finally destroyed by the 
French revolution. Defenseless and 
alone, the laborer was left to the mercy 
of a new school of economics which saw 
in him only the physical energy he was 
capable of exerting. Labor became a 
mere commodity, and it was bought on 
the market at the lowest price. In the 
coal mines of England, when men 
seemed to cost too much, women were 
put in their places, and finally, chil- 
dren were substituted for women. To 
combat the consequences of such prin- 
ciples, trade-unions arose in England 
and soon spread to other countries. To 
their organized efforts and intelligent 
aggressiveness is due very largely the 
improved condition we behold to-day. 
The workingman is lifted from deg- 
radation into which unrestrained com- 
petition had flung him. He is no 
longer regarded as a beast of burden 
and his labor as a mere article of mer- 
chandise. His human dignity has been 
reclaimed, and the reward of his labor 
must be sufficient to maintain himself 
and family in frugal comfort. Respect 
for the laborer as a man, as a human 
being, and reverence for childhood and 
womanhood, now so emphatically enun- 
ciated in the economic legislation of 
every Christian country in the world, 
is the distinct triumph of labor-union- 
ism and its great contribution to the 
cause of social progress. 

"Is it any wonder then, that the 
Church, through her Popes and Bish- 
ops endorses the essentials of modern 
unionism? They are her principles 
supplied to the social conditions of the 
times. The dignity of the individual, 



146 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



of woman, of the child, the sanctity of 
the home — doctrines on which the 
Church has insisted for centuries, these 
are the ideas which are at the basis of 
the whole labor movement. They have 
stirred it to action and crowned it with 
success. Through these ideas union- 
ism may yet become the most effective 
agency in the modern world to check 
the advance of socialism and to secure 
the reforms which humanity de- 
mands. ' ' 

What Labor Unions Mean. 

"Certain misconceptions in regard 
to the position taken by the trades 
unions on the question of equal earn- 
ings for all workmen, the color line, 
a "labor trust," and labor-saving 
machinery have made it difficult for 
many people to declare for organized 
labor. For the benefit of such we 
would respectfully submit the follow- 
ing statements : 

Equal Earnings for All Workmen. 

"The unions do not demand equal 
earnings for all workmen, thus reduc- 
ing the skilled workmen to the level 
of the lowest. They do insist that a 
minimun or living wage be paid; but 
there is nothing in the laws of the 
American Federation of Labor or any 
of its affiliated unions that prevents an 
employer from paying any employe as 
much as he pleases. Nor in connection 
with this do the unions insist upon the 
employment of incompetent men. 
Where agreements exist, the employer 
can hire any man he pleases in com- 
pliance with the terms of the agree- 
ment. Where no agreement exists, the 



union exercises no jurisdiction in the 
matter, but in either case the employer 
has every right to discharge the in- 
competent, shiftless employe. 

No Color Line. 

"The American Federation of La- 
bor does not draw the color line, nor 
do its affiliated national and interna- 
tional unions. A union that does can 
not be admitted into affiliation with 
this body. A portion of the pledge 
taken by every candidate for member- 
ship reads: 'I promise never to dis- 
criminate against a fellow-worker on 
account of color, creed, or nationality.' 
Colored men are sometimes rejected, 
but there is no discrimination in such 
cases, as white men are more often 
treated in a like manner. Even in the 
South, the negroes have been admitted 
into the trades unions, while they have 
been barred from ' other organizations 
that are antagonistic to organized la- 
bor. The color barriers have been 
broken down by labor unions, and not 
his color but his character bars the 
negro when he is barred. 

Labor-Saving Machinery. 

"Trades-unionism does not antag- 
onize labor-saving machinery. It wel- 
comes all such innovations. It does 
believe, however, that such machinery 
was intended to be a blessing, and in 
order that it may not become a curse, 
a shorter workday is advocated, so 
that a gigantic proportion of labor 
shall not be displaced and thus be- 
come sufferers instead of recipients 
of some of the benefits gained by 
modern invention. 



CHURCH CARE OF THE WORKERS. 147 



Not a "Labor Trust." 

"Trades-unionism is not a 'labor 
trust.' A trust excludes the many 
for the benefit of the few. Trade 
unionism opens wide its doors to every 
workingman in the craft, frequently 
reducing or abrogating the initiation 
fee in order to make it easier for the 
candidate. A trust is a close corpora- 
tion; a trades-union diligently seeks 
new members. Its officers are not 
high-salaried officials. They are under- 
paid, when one considers the character 
of the work and the other demands 
which are made upon them. The busi- 
ness agent of a labor union receives 
as his salary only the rate of wages 
which prevail in his craft. The inter- 
national officers, who carry great re- 
sponsibilities which demand executive 
ability of a high order, receive only 
what is paid an ordinary clerk in the 
office of a corporation. It will be in- 
teresting to note that the term 'walk- 
ing delegate' had its origin in the ac- 
tion of a New York labor union which 
refused to pay the car fare of its busi- 
ness agent. 

"The 'walking delegate' does not 
have unlimited power in the matter of 
calling a strike. The men do not 
blindly follow his dictates. The busi- 
ness agent can order a strike only when 
the question has been voted upon by 
the members of the union. He then 
simply announces the strike. Some- 
times he is given power to order a 
strike by the men themselves, in an 
extraordinary case, but even under 
such circumstances the action must be 
indorsed by those directly concerned. 
It is not his business to 'stir up 



trouble' for peaceably inclined work- 
ingmen. He is considered the most 
successful business agent who keeps 
his men at work. Frequently he winks 
at open violations of stipulated agree- 
ments on the part of the employer, in 
order to prevent a strike. He is really 
the 'pastor' of his union. He visits 
the sick, he finds work for the unem- 
ployed, he cares for those in distress 
cf any kind. 

Character of Labor Leaders. 

"The officials of organized labor are 
men of unquestioned character. As in 
all other organizations, undesirable men 
will at times succeed in securing an 
office, but in the great democratic labor 
movement such men can be easily re- 
moved, and are removed. Character, 
stability, perseverance, and unselfish- 
ness are essential qualities in the men 
who retain official positions in a labor 
union. 

Many of these officials, business 
agents, local officials, and officials of 
national and international unions are 
members and officers in the various 
churches. Moreover, their efforts as 
unionists are directed to secure im- 
proved temporal conditions for the 
workers, that will make it possible for 
them to direct their attention to things 
ideal, beautiful, spiritual. 

Membership of Trades Unions. 

"It has been and is now asserted 
that labor unions admit immoral and 
even vicious men to membership. The 
charge is malicious. Trades-unions 
have character qualifications, and men 
are required to be 'sober, steady, and 
industrious workmen' before member 



148 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



ship can be gained. It would be foolish 
to assert that trades-unions did not 
have immoral or even vicious mem- 
bers, but not to a greater extent than 
other organizations that are supposed 
to have a higher standard of ethics. 

" It is unqualifiedly true that trades- 
unions have been and are directing 
their efforts to bring into their ranks 
importations from other countries that 
are not always considered desirable. 
But it must be admitted that the em- 
ployers, and not the trades-unionists, 
are responsible for the presence of this 
class of labor in our country. The em- 
ployers brought them here. If they are 
good enough to be brought here and 
employed for profit by the employers 
and the opponents of organized labor, 
who profess a high order of morality 
and good citizenship, then it follows 
as a natural sequence that they must 
be good enough for us to try and or- 
ganize them in trades-unions, and thus 
protect themselves, help and receive 
help for men's social and moral uplift. 

"It is not fair to condemn the trades- 
union and trades-unionist. It is not 
fair to always judge them by their 
worst, when all other institutions and 
their devotees are judged by their 
best." 

Moral Advantages. 

Labor halls have become social cen- 
ters. Frequently helpful lecture courses 
are given. Social features, uplift- 
ing in character, are often supported. 
The labor press educates the trades- 
unionist in technical matters, presents 
higher ideals, and urges better living. 

There is a moral value in the regu- 



lar meetings of the union. A man soon 
realizes that he can not force a particu- 
lar measure upon his associates. He 
must possess the facts and present 
them. Every man has a fair chance to 
present his views, no matter how un- 
popular he or they may be. He learns 
the lesson of subordination to the will 
of others, which is always good dis- 
cipline. He learned the lesson of broth- 
erhood of co-operation of ' ' teamwork. ' ' 
He is sometimes called upon to 
make real sacrifices for the sake of 
his fellows. It frequently happens 
when it becomes known that a member 
of a labor union who has run into debt 
desires to "skip the town," that his 
union will withhold his traveling card 
until his debts are paid. 

Very little has been said to the public 
about the millions of dollars which 
have been expended in sick and death 
benefits by trades-unions. Rarely does 
a trades-unionist apply to the charity 
organization society, or any other so- 
ciety, for aid. 

Organized labor has done much for 
the cause of temperance among work- 
ing men. There is probably no philan- 
thropic organization which has done 
more in this direction. In many in- 
stances there is a prohibition clause in 
the contract with the employer. The 
rules of the union declare that an in- 
jured man will not receive the weekly 
sick benefit if the injury was sustained 
while he was intoxicated. More and 
more labor union meetings are held 
in halls which are free from saloons. 
Rarely do they meet on Sunday. 
Labor Guilds. 

The old time labor guilds were of 



CHURCH CARE OF THE WORKERS. 



149 



two kinds, the religious and the secu- 
lar, of which the latter were the trade 
organizations of the day. These had 
their origin in the natural tendency 
of men to associate to promote a com- 
mon interest, and in the natural con- 
dition of human society which allowed 
this tendency free scope, so that the 
supreme or national society was com- 
posed immediately of subordinate so- 
cieties. Eeligion had its part in the 
secular guild, because religion entered 
then into social life. The guilds had 
their patrons and their patronal feasts, 
their place in the parish church ; some 
had churches and chaplains of their 
own. But besides this, the spirit of 
Christianity entered into the guilds' 
administration. 

The object of the trade guild, as 
found in the towns, and even in some 
large villages was to protect the trade 
it represented. This was called an art 
and mystery, and was the vested inter- 
est of those who learned it. It deter- 
mined the number of apprentices, gave 
laws to the journeymen, fixed their 
wages and hours of labor, and deter- 
mined the standard of excellence one 
had to obtain. It was controlled by 
the masters; and none might exercise 
the trade unless he were, as a master, 
a member of the guild, or, as a journey- 
man, on the way to become such. It 
was as close as any modern union. And 
on the whole the guilds worked well 
and under them reigned harmony that 
is perhaps wanting in some trade or- 
ganizations of to-day. 

The Feudal System. 
Among the various systems of em- 



ployment in the old days in which 
workingmen are interested, the most 
important is called the Feudal System. 

This famous civil and political in- 
stitution of Europe, during the Middle 
Ages, had perhaps a more general sway 
than any other similar institution at 
any time in the history of the world. It 
had reached its full maturity about the 
time of William the Conqueror's com- 
ing to England. Its fundamental prin- 
ciple was that all the lands of the 
kingdom were held by the Crown and 
were originally granted by the King 
to his principal followers. They, in 
turn, parcelled out their estate to their 
dependents, on similar terms as those 
upon which they received their grants, 
which was of course, military service, 
pledging themselves to be ready for a 
call to arms at any time. Their de- 
pendents, who were called vassals, 
owed service only to their master, as 
he in turn owed service to his king. 

The Feudal System -was in harmony 
with the military spirit of the age, and 
though well calculated for defence it 
was defective in its provisions for the 
interior order of society, because, as 
every feudal kingdom was thus com- 
posed of a number of independent 
chieftains, with no other bond between 
them than the obligation of supporting 
their king in his wars, the consequences 
were interior disturbances, turbulence 
and civil war. 

The causes which contributed to its 
decline in Europe were the Crusades, 
the extension of commerce and the 
rise of cities. The wholesale destruc- 
tion of nobles in these interior wars, 
such as the Wars of the Roses in Eng- 



150 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



land, and the policy adapted by some 
tings in limiting the number of their 
nobles' retainers, virtually terminated 
the existence of the Feudal System 
everywhere. 

Feudal System in America. 

The early settlers in Canada held 
their lands under the Feudal System, 
by which the primary ownership was 
vested in the king of France. This in 
1627 gave away to revised system called 
Seigniorial Tenure, under which men 
distinguished for service received 
grants of land, as for instance LaSalle 
received Cataraqui, Joliet was given 
the Island of Anticosti, and the Sul- 
pician fathers received the Island of 
Montreal. These holdings were later 
given over at a small figure to settlers. 
This prevailed until 1854, when the 
Freehold System, by which settlers 
acquired possession of all lands cleared 
by them and occupied. 

Catholic Men and Women in the 
Labor Cause. 

The encouragement that Catholics re- 
ceive from their Church in its approval 
of the labor cause has borne fruit in 
the number of Catholic men and wom- 
en who have forged their way to the 
front in the cause of trade-unions. 
Their influence and their opinions, 
based upon the solid foundation of 
their Church 's teaching, has made them 
prominent everywhere, active for the 
good of their organization. 

There was no better known or more 
highly respected gentleman in the labor 
ranks than Mr. John Mitchell of the 
Miners' union. James O'Connell for- 



mer vice president of the American 
Federation of Labor at Washington; 
James W. Lynch, ex-president of the 
Typographical union ; J. T. Carey, 
president paper makers union ; Thomas 
J. Curtis, Jas. Lennon, John Sul- 
livan, New York City; P. J. Cronin, 
Jas. Moran, St. Louis ; Thos. J. Durnin, 
president State Federation of Massa- 
chusetts; John Noll, president Ohio 
Federation; T. J. Williams, Pittsburg; 
Matthew Woll, Simon O'Donnell, J. 
M. McGowan, Jas. H. Hannahan, John 
Alpine, Chas. W. Fry, Chicago ; John 
J. Bouce, Buffalo ; Geo. Leary, Cin- 
cinnati ; Chas. L. Baine, Boston ; Miss 
Alice 'Rourke, Brooklyn ; Miss E. 
Maloney, Miss Agnes Nestor, Chicago. 
These are all persons of distinction in 
the labor-unions' host. 

Patrick Gilday, one of the committee 
of three named recently by former 
President Woodrow Wilson to act as 
an arbitration board in any future 
difference that may arise between Col- 
orado operators and coal miners, is a 
member of the Catholic Church. Frank 
P. Walsh and James O'Connell, two 
members of the National Committee on 
industrial relations, are also members 
of the Church. 

A complete and thorough list is not 
of course available, yet more than one 
hundred other Catholic men and wom- 
en are International officers repre- 
senting some particular union. Some 
cities are represented in this way by 
' : Fraternal Delegates," Catholic 
Priests, who, previous to their ordina- 
tion, were active members of a union. 
They try to follow in active practice 
the spirit of the Church as expressed 



CHURCH CARE OF THE WORKERS. 



151 



by Leo XIII. A most active worker is 
Eeverend Peter E. Dietz, secretary of 
the Social Service Commission of the 
American Federation of Catholic So- 
cieties. Another is Father Moran, 
Cleveland, honored by the U. S. Gov- 
ernment in appointment as chairman 
of the Ohio State Labor Board during 
the War. Father Dempsey, St. Louis, 
has an unique record of strike settle- 
ments, his services as mediator having 
been called upon frequently. 

New Legislation. 

The official summary of labor legis- 
lation in the United States during the 
year 1915, shows that almost every 
state enacted labor laws of special in- 
terest. Perhaps the most significant 
feature, aside from the enactment of 
workmen's compensation laws, was the 
growth of the industrial commission 
plan, uniting under one authority the 
administration of women's compensa- 
tion, factory inspection and other la- 
bor laws. Under this form the plan 
was adopted during the past year in 
Colorado, Indiana, Montana, Nevada 
and New York. Especially notable, 
likewise, was the attention given to the 
subject of unemployment and of public 
employment offices, while laws relating 
to woman and child labor were quite 
as numerous as in the preceding year. 
The Idaho legislation enacted in favor 
of the unemployed is particularly in- 
teresting. Unemployed citizens of the 
United States, who have been residents 
of the State of Idaho for six months, 
are to be provided with emergency em- 
ployment by county boards of commis- 
sioners. This employment is to be on 



the highways at rates to be fixed by 
the county boards, and not more than 
sixty days' work of this kind is to be 
furnished to any one person within one 
year. Refusal to perform the work 
assigned debars the applicant from 
this form of relief for one year. The 
state is to bear one-half of the expense 
incurred by this plan. 

Women and Children Labor. 

A summary of the nineteen-volume 
report on the condition of woman and 
child wage earners in the United States 
has been issued by the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics. The establishments investi- 
gated employed in 1915 over 350,000 
persons, of whom over 167,000, or ap- 
proximately fifty per cent, were women. 
The most striking feature of this great 
labor force was the extreme youth- 
fulness of those employed, yet in al- 
most all the twenty-seven industries 
studied married women formed ten 
per cent or more of the woman workers 
twenty years of age and over. The 
Bureau states : 

"Among the families from which the 
wage earners in these industries come, 
the industrial employment of girls is 
well-nigh universal. Thus in the four 
industries which were the subject of 
intensive study, it was found that in 
some 5,000 families from 82 to 98 
percent of the families had girls 16 
years of age and over at work, and 
that from 80 to 95 per cent of all the 
girls of this age-group in these fam- 
ilies were wage earners. That this em- 
ployment was a matter of economic 
necessity is indicated by the fact that 
from 27 to 43 per cent of the total 



152 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



family income was contributed by girls 
in this age-group, and that approxi- 
mately 90 per cent of all their earnings 
were contributed to the family." 

One of the most significant facts 
disclosed by the investigation in prac- 
tically all industries was the large pro- 
portion of women wage earners who 
were paid low wages, in many cases 
inadequate to supply a reasonable 
standard of living for women depend- 
ent upon their earnings for support. 
In the group of women employed in 
the four great industries : cotton, men's 
ready-made clothing, glass and silk 
from two-fifths to two-thirds of those 
16 years of age and over earned less 
than $6 in a representative week. In 
another group of 23 industries, an 
examination of the earnings of over 
38,000 women 18 years of age and 
over showed that over 41 per cent 
earned less than $6 in a representative 
week. 

Children below the legal age were 
found employed at work legally pro- 
hibited to children of their years, for 
illegal hours and at illegal times. False 
age certificates were used and other 
means of evading the established laws. 
Yet in spite of continued abuses there 
has been of late a marked improvement 
in the conditions of woman and child 
labor. Many of the changes have taken 
place since the publication of the Bu- 
reau's report. The figures given are 
therefore to be referred back to this 
and the immediately preceding period. 

Church Care of Labor. 

Mr. William Hard, non-Catholic, in 
a series of articles, portraying the un- 



rest following the close of the war 
paid a wonderful tribute to the Church 
as the greatest factor in the United 
States aiming at real reconstruction. 

He especially commended the bishops 
for their fearless action in expressing 
a philosophy of life, spun not out of 
themselves but from the age-old teach- 
ing of the Church, quoting from the 
F athers. He proves from experiences 
in many places how the prelates of 
today knew conditions, how they were 
in sympathy with the people and 
fought for the rights of the oppressed. 
He quotes Catholic writers on neces- 
sary living conditions and living wages. 
Without qualifications he states that 
the Church is the only influence in 
action against the apostles of unrest, 
the only defender of the people. 

In this connection the Program of 
Reconstruction of the Catholic Bishops 
cf America, published in the strenu- 
ous days that followed the war, must 
not be overlooked. This remarkable 
program is the most progressive action 
of the times. Other church bodies have 
adopted it. 

Welfare societies have given it ap- 
proval. It is to the credit of the 
National Catholic Welfare Council. 

Sabotage, the I. W. W. and Strike 
Violence. 

Sabots are wooden shoes. Some time 
ago during a strike in France, the 
workmen are said to have hurled their 
wooden shoes into the delicately fash- 
ioned machinery of the looms in the 
silk mills. The damage which resulted 
caused the term "sabotage" to be ap- 
plied generally to destruction of prop- 



CHURCH CARE OF THE WORKERS. 



153 



erty or to any loss inflicted upon an 
employer during the time of a strike. 
It means revenge or spite. It is the 
usual method of the revolutionary 
worker to gain demands refused by 
his employer. It is meant by the class 
which resorts to such violence, to be a 
means towards an end, social revolu- 
tion. Frequently there is no other 
method employed in a strike, no suf- 
fering for the worker, only the keenest 
distress to the employer. 

The Industrial Workers of the World 
is an organization which is not in sym- 
pathy with the usual peaceful methods 
employed in strikes by wage earners. 
There are few who will deny the work- 
ers the right to strike in order to gain 
their end, especially when that end is 
something which betters their condi- 
tions. Yet the I. W. W. has not been 
slow in advocating violence as the big 
stick, which is sure to whip the em- 
ployer into line. Not long ago the 
Brotherhood of Timber Workers was 
formed among the men in the pine 
forests of the south by I. W. W. or- 
ganizers. In the period which fol- 
lowed their demands, there was no 
strike. The men remained at work, 
but the logs cut by them were full of 
deeply driven spikes that ruined the 
teeth of a dozen band saws in a day. 
Lumber of a special length was cut 
short, necessitating a new cut. Trains 
were derailed ; nuts were dropped from 
the log carts; flabby fly-wheels forced 
frequents shutdowns. This was the I. 
W. W.'s reply to the lock-out, to the 
denial of more pay. (Walter V. 
Woehlke in Outlook, July 6, 1912). 

The New York Sun, writing of the 



Waiters' strike in January, 1913, refers 
to certain hints thrown out by Ettor, a 
leader of the I. W. W. It seems that 
Ettor was very outspoken in his re- 
marks at a strike meeting, so much 
so that the reporters who heard him 
feared the usual thing, a denial from 
him when he would see the report of 
his speech in the next morning's paper. 
"The reporters who heard Ettor 's in- 
citement to poison took the precaution 
to obtain from him confirmation of 
their understanding of his speech after 
he had relinquished the platform. Be- 
cause of their foresight, his denials 
uttered after the event fall completely 
to the ground." (Jan. 14, 1913). 

The Chicago Syndicalist of Feb. 15, 
1913, in a column headed "Society 
Notes," gives a long list of items out- 
lining information as to the workings 
of sulphuric acid in woolen or cotton 
goods, how to disable a grain separator, 
how salt will utterly destroy a painting 
job, and how castor oil will destroy 
varnish. It speaks of a spontaneous 
fire powder that allows the user to be 
miles away when the fire breaks out, 
and hints at what the suffragettes have 
done in England in this line. Now the 
purpose of all this information seems 
clear. It is given by the I. W. W. 
street orator frequently with some such 
sarcastic comment as "Dont do it, 
boys." Yet too often it is given at a 
time when its meaning and application 
cannot be doubted. 

Nor does such attempt at instigation 
to violence stop with private owners. 
Haywood tells with great satisfaction 
in the International Socialist Review 
for March, 1911, how one company 



154 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



of. French radicals tramped the national 
flag into the mire, and how another 
marched with guns reversed to show 
their contempt for discipline. Instances 
of this kind have appeared in the 
British navy, and there is no doubt 
but that attempt has been made to 
cause disaffection among our own 
American soldiers and sailors. 

Violent methods are being advocated 
in a systematized and organized man- 
ner. Public teaching is offered and 
promoted by the incendiary press, 
while so frequently open reference is 
made to violence in letters to the social- 
ist press. In this there is an utter disre- 
gard for all principles of morality, and 
an utter repudiation of religion. Too 
often in strikes arranged quitely and 
being conducted peacefully there en- 
ters the element of violence and at once 
the sympathy of the public is lost, and 
inestimable harm done to the cause 
of the laboring classes. It does not 
matter that the leaders of the strike 
repudiate all violence, nor that the 
strikers have no sympathy with it. The 
harm is done and one single revolution- 
ary may do more to hinder progress 
than the efforts of many good and ex- 
cellent men can accomplish in a life- 
time. 

The I. W. W. had grown into an 
organization of widespread influence 
throughout the country at the time of 
it's Tenth Annual Convention held in 
Chicago in the fall of 1916. Hundreds 
of delegates were present. Among the 
features outlined on the program was 
the honoring of the ashes of Joe Hill, 
their organizer, who was found guilty 



of murder and shot by the State of 
Utah in 1915. 

The United States Government, dur- 
ing the war, found it necessary to use 
strenuous methods to curb the activ- 
ities of those, who either as bona fide 
members of the I. W. W., or by using 
that organization as a camouflage for 
enemy propaganda, retarded war activ- 
ities to a considerable degree. 
Bolshevism. 

The Russian word 1 ' Bolshevism ' ' has 
been coined comparatively recently to 
express the ideas conveyed to Socialists 
in Western Europe, by the term "Max- 
imalist." The counterpart "Minimal- 
ist'' in the Socialist Terminology 
is known by the Bolshevik equiva- 
lent " Menshavick. " There is noth- 
ing definitely Russian in the whole 
trend of ideas implied in these catch- 
words. Those who are familiar with 
the development of Socialism, here and 
abroad, know that the terms Maximal- 
ism and Minimalism have for a number 
of years been the main lines of division 
among the exponents of this movement. 
Russia was merely the unfortunate 
country in which were let loose a whole 
swarm of fanatical champions of every 
extreme variety of Socialism and An- 
archism. 

The final aim of both these divisions 
is the abolition of all private property 
and the socialization of all means of 
production. The Minimalists are of 
course what we would term moderate 
Socialists, who would proceed gradual- 
ly and by evolutionary process to at- 
tain their ends without radical disturb- 
ances. The Maximalists would destroy 
everything without building anew. 



CHURCH CARE OF THE WORKERS. 



155 



They demand, with Nietzsche, to whose 
revolutionary doctrines they easily sub- 
scribe the revaluation of all values — in 
other words a clean sweep of our anti- 
quated, old-world notions of God, faith 
and morals, conception of right and 
wrong, conjugal and family relations 
as well as the position of the individual 
in the state. 

Bolshevism is, however, not based on 
anarchy. Those who know state that 
it is an organized movement, rather 
emphasizing the "supremacy of the 
under dog. ' ' It therefore makes a pow- 
erful appeal to the masses, to the shift- 
less and the ignorant, that much ex- 
ploited section of humanity. It is a 
grave mistake to consider Bolshevism 
as meaning nothing but disorganiza- 
tion. Its teachings have prepared the 
minds of the people for the present 
crisis, and then, the removal or weak- 
ening of those Christian conceptions of 
life and society has done away with 
the last impediment to its growth. 

Keen observers have long predicted 
a class war, and students of human 
affairs, such as Lord Northcliffe, are 
in despair that the real danger is not 
thoroughly understood and appreciated 
by the nations which could make a 
decisive stand against its malignant 
growth. 

Bolshevism has made its appearance 
even in America. It is a mistake to 
underestimate its invidious influence. 
It is a mistake also for Catholics to 
assist in any way in its development 
and progress. Radical doctrines have 
no place side by side with Catholic 
teaching of respect for authority. How- 
ever camouflaged as "High Ideals and 



Purposes," in practice will be found 
nothing but the distorted fancies of 
red handed murderers, and a violent 
subversion of all social order as it is 
the radical viewpoint which finds favor 
with those who venture to advocate 
Bolshevism in America. 

Problem of Unemployment. 
This has rightly been called a world 
problem. Congresses, legislatures and 
conventions of every kind are engaged 
in the discussion. The most pathetic 
feature is that sad and eager search 
for work by that great majority of the 
unemployed who suffer in silence. The 
loud talkers are the least anxious to 
earn their living. Catholics must con- 
sider it their duty to devote their seri- 
ous attention to this question. Idle- 
ness is the mother of vice and enforced 
idleness is only too sure to add rancor 
and bitterness to all other dangers. 
The census figures of 1900 show that 
of all workers over ten years of 
age engaged in paying occupations, 
6,468,965 were out of work for at least 
a portion of the year. For the male 
workers alone, these periods of un- 
employment ranged from four to six 
months in no fewer than 2,069,546 
cases. 

That the situation is apt to develop 
into something seriously critical is evi- 
dent from some of the demonstrations 
which have taken place. The action 
of the I. W. W., for instance, in leading 
an army of the unemployed in New 
York City, into a Catholic Church, 
while the congregation was kneeling 
in worship of the Blessed Sacrament, 
might be considered. (St. Alphonsus 
Church, Winter of 1915). Without 



156 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



doubt, this was done for the sole pur- 
pose of advertising their revolutionary 
organization. Now, whatever opinion 
a non-Catholie may have regarding his 
house of prayer, no Catholic will sym- 
pathize with the demands made upon 
the priests in charge, that the Church 
be given over to the mob for shelter. 
And but few will agree with the ones 
who did not fail to throw out innuen- 
does at the action of the priests in re- 
fusing the demands made upon them 
that night. Especially since the Church 
has always exercised the strongest pos- 
sible influences in favor of bettering 
the conditions of the poor, provide 
work for them, and shelter at all times 
for the needy. 

Just how much the troubles of the 
unemployed are of their own, or others, 
making, is part of the problem. Unem- 
ployment is the inevitable consequence 
of economic principles of which the 
Church has never approved and never 
can approve. The problem is not the 
actual result of modern inventions, nor 
it is the outcome of modern methods 
of livings, at least not materially so. 
Justice and charity are compatible with 
every stage of the world's progress. 
Were the Sundays and holidays ob- 
served as in the days during the Ages 
of Faith, with the proper rest which 
they imply, were the home preserved in 
its integrity and not replaced to such 
extent by the factory and shop, were 
senseless excesses and expenditures 
avoided and the law of brotherhood 
and Christian solidarity obeyed in the 
spirit of the Church's teaching, there 
would be bread and work for all to- 
day. 



There was never a reformer more 
aggressive than St. Francis. He never 
denounced those in authority; he at- 
tacked neither the laws nor the institu- 
tions of his day; he clamored for no 
legislative reform; he agitated for no 
new system of government ; he preached 
no sovereign remedy for the evils under 
which the people lived. He placed 
the chief hope for a suffering human- 
ity in a return to the plain teachings 
of the Gospel, knowing as he did that 
all else would follow. 

Labor's Demands. 

An authority on economic subjects 
within the Church, one who stands 
high in the world's estimation is the 
Reverend John A. Ryan, D. D., of the 
Catholic University of America. Dr. 
Ryan's views on the labor question, 
cn the attitude of the Church towards 
Socialism and other "isms'' are widely 
quoted. On a subject which occupied 
much attention in after-war problems, 
the high cost of living, Dr. Ryan de- 
fends labor 's demand for proportionate 
increase in wages in a strong statement 
from which the following is an ex- 
tract : 

"To cite increased wages as a cause 
of increased prices is to betray an 
ignorance of the facts. Wage advances 
have been an effect of price advances, 
not a cause. An examination of the ex- 
perience of every industry shows, prac- 
tically without exception, that wage 
increases have lagged behind price 
increases and usually very far be- 
hind. In a period of rapidly rising 
cost of living it is inevitable that wages 
also rise in some measure, if the great 



CHURCH CARE OF THE WORKERS. 



157 



body of wage earners, living as. they 
do at best not far above the line of 
poverty, is not to suffer complete deg- 
radation. 

"But in no way has labor been the 
initial influence. Prices were pushed 
up by factors over which the work- 
ers had no control. They have merely 
struggled as best they could and in 
the only way they could to keep their 
old standards of living. In this strug- 
gle they have met with only very par- 
tial success. For the great body of 
wage earners, wages have not kept step 
with prices. 

"As a result, labor as a class is now 
worse off than it was before the war. 
Almost without exception a day's 
wages buys less than it did in 1912 to 
1914. In other words, in the distribu- 
tion of the income of the country, 
labor is receiving a smaller proportion 
than it did before the war, while capital 
— in the form of profits, interests and 
rent — is receiving a very much larger 
proportion." 

To Christianize Industry. 

Joseph Keating S. J., had a splen- 
did article in The Month on this 
subject, which we reprint from the 
Catholic Mind: 

"If there is ignorance, if there is 
apathy, if there is even hostility to 
necessary changes, amongst men who 
find their profit in the old order, that 
cannot be because these claiming to 
speak in the name of Christ have not 
vehemently and constantly voiced His 
ideals. It can only be because the 
commercial world, like the political, 
will not take Christian principles, in 



the sense explained, as its standard 
and rule. Not being able to combine 
the service of God and Mammon, it 
has practically abandoned the former. 
Yet even so, it does not secure its real 
interests. The labor world in Europe 
and America has been and is the 
scene of internecine conflicts which, 
whosoever wins, only injure both 
worker and employer. Some may 
seek their interest in fishing in trou- 
bled waters, but trade as a whole, the 
success of which requires a constant 
and efficient demand, is made unsta- 
ble and precarious. Even from the 
purely material standpoint, as many 
writers point out, the friction between 
the two factors of wealth defeats the 
end of industry. A speedy and stable 
peace is necessary for a return of 
prosperity. The country is deeply 
impoverished, its liabilities have enor- 
mously increased, its means of meet- 
ing them greatly diminished, and the 
maldistribution of wealth, which was 
even a pre-war menace, has become 
more portentous still. Yet, if there 
had been real peace in the labor world 
since the Armistice : if the capitalist 
had been content with a moderate pro- 
fit and the laborer consented to tem- 
porary scaling-down of wages : if the 
huge and universal extravagance in 
dress and drink and luxury, which 
marked the reaction from the strain of 
war, had been checked : if the senseless 
waste of strikes had been avoided, the 
nation would have been in a far better 
condition than it is at present. Inter- 
national conditions, of course, account 
for much of our misery, but in the 
main the fault is in ourselves and not 



158 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



our stars that we are in such, sad 
cases. 

"Is it possible to recall the vision, 
to restore again that harmony of 
classes, which, in the field or on the 
home-front, made w a r-conditions 
more endurable and success more cer- 
tain, to induce some measure of 'en- 
lightened selfishness' into the deal- 
ings of class with class? Can we get 
rid completely and finally of the 
landless man, the wage-slave, the 
whole unhuman idea of a proletariat? 
Not, once more, without a change of 
heart, a realization of human dignity 
even in the poorest, of the rights 
which immediately follow in every 
being the fact of existence. But Mr. 
Leacock, economist and man of hu- 
mor, in his latest book, 'How I Dis- 
covered England,' thinks that no 
change is necessary. His ideal for 
the revival of industry is to remove 
what slender restrictions there are 
upon individualistic greed. Let us 



give free rein, he says in effect, to the 
profiteer, let us release him from the 
penitentiary (if necessary) and allow 
full play to his unhallowed avarice. 
Then, when he has set the wheels of 
industry going again, we can put him 
back into gaol. This, we fear, is sus- 
piciously like the old fallacy, so beloved 
of the Manchester School, so soothing 
to the anxious conscience, and so pro- 
ductive of misery to the worker, that 
the richer you yourself become the 
better for your country. "We hope we 
have done with that philosophy of the 
pit. It is a libel on human nature to 
imply that the gratification of passion 
is a greater stimulus to effort than the 
pursuit of virtue, whether natural or 
supernatural. The saints, those weil- 
springs of prodigious energy, refute 
the libel on the one count, and the 
hosts of earnest men and women, who, 
out of mere humanitarianism, devote 
their lives to the betterment of their 
fellows, refute it on the other." 



Bibliography. 

Works consulted in preparation of this chapter are "A Living 
Wage," and other works by Rev. John A. Ryan, D. D.; Work, 
Wealth and Wages, Father Husslein; The Red Conspiracy, Mereto; 
Bolshevism, Its Cure, Goldstein; Catholics and Social Action, Plater: 
Christian Democracy, Devas; lectures and sermons by Archbishop 
Glennon, St. Louis; Bishop Corbett, Crookston; Central Verein, 
St. Louis, publications; Trade Union literature; Catholic Encyclo- 
pedia; Catholic Dictionary, Addis and Arnold; Social Reconstruc- 
tion pamphlets. N. C. W. C. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



Socialism and Other Near»Relig|ioiis. 

Socialism — Its Origin and Development — American Experiences — Socialist Labor 
Party — The I. W. W. — Other Schisms — Socialism Unchristian — Leaders' Views on 
Religion — Socialist Theology — Christian Science — Powers of Healing — Explanation 
— Mind and Matter — Theosophy. American Versions — New Thought — A Rejection 
of Christianity — Faddists in Religion — Spiritism — Its Phenomena — Explanation — 
Effects on Addicts — Ouija Board — Hypnotism — Its Use in Medicine — Clairvoyance, 
Fortune Telling — The Trance — Luck, Good and Bad. 



The year 1848 is considered as the 
birth year of Modern Socialism. At 
that time Marx and Engels published 
what still remains as the leading ex- 
position of Socialist belief the world 
over. 

Karl Marx was born of Jewish par- 
ents in Treves, Germany, 1818. En 
gels was born in Prussia in 1820. The 
men were banished from France, Bel- 
gium and Germany for their danger- 
ous doctrines. They found refuge in 
England, where their influence grew 
and spread over Europe, through the 
International Working-men's Associa- 
tion. Rows between anarchist and 
moderate factions brought ruin to this 
body about 1876. Marx died in 1883. 
His works, notably, "Das Kapital," 
are known as the "Bible of Social- 
ism.*' 

Up to the time of the great war 
Socialists caused much trouble in Eu- 
rope. Karl Liebknecht. and Rosa Lux- 
emburg, leaders of Spartacan Com- 



munists, were put to death in 1919 
m Berlin. 

Spread of Socialist doctrines made 
much trouble elsewhere, in Austria- 
Hungary, but more notably in Rus- 
sia. In 1917 Socialists broke down 
the bureaucratic Czarist regime. In 
the revolution that followed three 
camps of Socialists came into being — 
the Cadets, the Moderates and the 
Revolutionaries (Bolsheviki). 

Control came to the Bolsheviki in 
the latter part of 1917. Although 
beaten at the polls, these extremists 
took over the reigns of power. 
Lenine, head of the soviet system of 
government, ruled as a dictator. His 
acts were of violence, oppression and 
bloodshed. Despite opposition of other 
Socialists, even of the Allies, he con- 
tinued in power. 

In recent years Socialism has made 
much progress in Sweden. Even Bel- 
gium and Czecho - Slovakia have 
known their disturbances. France, 
since the Commune, has been wary of 
agitators. South America and Canada 



160 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



have known their efforts. Mexico 
added "industrial unionism" to her 
Socialist movement originally, only to 
have a body secede in 1919, to be re- 
organized as Communists. 

In America. 

Socialism first came to the United 
States about 1850. Followers of Marx 
formed the Workingmen's Party in 
1876, which only a short time later be- 
came the Socialistic Labor Party. Se- 
cessions came, but the party was reor- 
ganized in 1889. Eugene V. Debs and 
Victor L. Berger became leaders of 
the seceders. 

The Socialist party, as it became a 
power in 1919, was under the direc- 
tion of Debs, Berger and Morris Hill- 
quit, claiming over 100,000 members. 
The Socialist Labor Party was a 
strong rival, under guidance of Dan- 
iel De Leon. Each of these charged 
that the other had given up the prin- 
ciples of Marx. 

American Socialists fast arrived at 
the same condition as the ancient 
builders of the tower of Babel when 
the Lord had come down to con- 
found their tongues. Their tower 
which was to make heaven accessible 
upon earth has suffered no slight de- 
lay in its construction, because they 
can no longer "understand one an- 
other's speech." Not only are lead- 
ing Socialists, like William English 
"Walling, inventing their own theories, 
but great contending parties formed 
within the Socialists' camp, each pro- 
fessing to be the sole exponent of 
pure and simple Socialism. 

"Marx is great and Haywood is 



his prophet ! ' ' shouts one faction, 
while another blazons upon its ban- 
ner the names of Berger, Debs, De 
Leon or some pther champion of the 
Social Bevolution. Marx himself, for- 
tunately for all parties, is sufficiently 
self-contradictory and obscure to fur- 
nish texts for every side. 

Even so important a person as the 
three-time candidate for the Presi- 
dency, Eugene Debs, perhaps the 
most popular member of the Socialist 
Party in America, is not now consid- 
ered orthodox by a large percentage 
of his voters, although held as a mar- 
tyr for his prison experience in war 
time. 

The Socialist Labor Party. 

The Socialist Labor Party, however, 
justly accuses its rival of opportun- 
ism and habitual dishonesty. What- 
ever its faults, it speaks out fearless- 
ly and plainly. It attacks religion 
openly and not under cover. Its tone 
and color have been given to it by 
De Leon, who from the beginning has 
been a leader in the Socialist camp. 
The strongest denunciations of the 
two-faced policies of the Socialist 
Party have come from his pen. Words 
can not express his disgust at the 
' ' Spargo - Hillquit - Hunter - Simonism ' ' 
of the Socialist partyites, and the 
"knee-deep quagmire" of Berger 's 
utterances. "Let Debs," he writes 
' ' and those in his party who think as 
he does, exert themselves to make of 
the Socialist Party a true party of 
Socialism and when they succeed — 
(which I don't believe they ever will) 
— then, and not till then, will it be 



AMERICAN ARCHBISHOPS. 



Top, left, Archbishop Glennon, St. Louis; top, right, Archbishop Mosller, Cincinnati 
lower, left, Archbishop Hayes, New York; Archbishop Hanna, San Francisco. 



SOCIALISM AND OTHER NEAR-RELIGIONS. 161 



time enough to broach the subject of 
unity." — "Weekly People," (August 
30, 1913). 

The essential difference between 
the two Socialist parties consists in 
the fact that whereas the Socialist 
Party would attain its purpose by the 
ballot alone, leaving its members free 
to choose between craft or industrial 
unionism or even to discard both, the 
Socialist Labor Party insists upon a 
two-fold organization, the political 
and the industrial. It will under no 
condition tolerate trade unionism, but 
considers industrial unionism essen- 
tial for a successful revolution. 

Political triumph would, according 
to its view, spell disaster for the 
proletariat, if it were not prepared 
to displace the political state by an 
industrial administration. The la- 
borer is, therefore, to be properly in- 
structed within his industrial unions, 
and on the day of victory the polit- 
ical organization will cease to be and 
the industrial administration will 
control the means of production. 

The I. W. W. 

But there is a third class of Social- 
ism which has risen into sudden prom- 
inence. It is known as the "I. W. 
W.," or the "Industrial Workers of 
the World. " In so far as its members 
insist exclusively upon industrial 
unionism they are as one with the 
Socialist Labor Party, but they dif- 
fer both from it and from the Social- 
ist Party itself in entirely rejecting 
political action and substituting in its 
place "direct action." Although this 
expression implies only the seizure of 



power on the part of the proletariat 
by direct means, without any media- 
tion of politicians, yet violence is 
practically included in the program. 
The ballot is held by the I. W. W.'s 
to be of little or no importance, since 
they believe that all politicians are 
alike and use their influence to pro- 
mote their own interests. Whether 
they were seated by capitalists or 
Socialists is not thought to make any 
essential difference. 

The entering of this new force in- 
to the Socialist field has led to end- 
less confusion within the old Social- 
ist Party which denounces it as anar- 
chistic. The movement was pro- 
claimed as the coming Socialism, the 
only true Marxism, as its prototype 
was proclaimed in France. Many left 
the party to give full attention to the 
I. W. W. Many more tried to give 
allegiance to both. This straddling 
policy is pursued by such Socialist 
publications as the International So- 
cialist Review. Most, if not practically 
all, members of the I. W. W. will 
vote the Socialist ticket at election 
time, as they are at all times safe in 
relying upon the financial support of 
the Socialist Party. They always ac- 
knowledge the Socialist Party candi- 
date as their nearest kin. 

A schism, however, exists within 
the I. W. W. One section centered 
in Chicago, to which Haywood and 
Ettor belonged. This seceded in 1908 
from the parent organization, repre- 
sented by the Detroit Industrial 
Workers of the World, which was en- 
dorsed by the Socialist Labor Party — 
all of whose principles it supports. It 



162 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



rejects direct action as inopportune 
and supports political and industrial 
methods. 

Effect of Schisms. 

The whole Socialist Party in the 
United States has passed through a 
crisis. The loss of 50,000 dues-paying 
members during one year was freely 
admitted by the official organ, the 
"Party Builder." The Socialists 
themselves attribute the cause to in- 
ternal troubles. Most important is 
the suspension of many of the most 
prominent Socialist Party publica- 
tions. (The Chicago Daily Socialist), 
the (Coming Nation), the (Cleveland 
Socialist), and other publications, 
have ceased publication. Appearance 
of a new official organ, "The Party 
Builder," at once drew forth the fol- 
lowing exclamation of amazement 
from one of Mr. Berger's "many pri- 
vate journalistic ventures," the Mil- 
waukee (Social Democrat) : "The 
national headquarters of the party 
now publishes a weekly paper in com- 
petition with the various weekly 
party papers. As these latter papers 
are dying off like flies, due to having 
been started in too great profusion, 
the national office paper will help on 
the funerals and can print from week 
to week the record of rivals put un- 
der the sod. The paper, (The Party 
Builder) has started out in good com- 
petitive style, by the way, by calling 
for subscription hustlers, and will 
doubtless soon have its special 'army' 
on the 'firing line' in regulation 
style." 

The (Appeal to Reason) likewise 
jc! exceedingly annoyed by its rela- 



tionship with the (Menace). Both 
were founded by the same Socialist 
comrade, and were promoted largely 
by the same group of men. The 
intense interest of the "Appeal " 
readers in the "Menace" propaganda 
finally became so absorbing that the 
professed Socialist paper itself seri- 
ously suffered through this zeal for 
the common cause, the destruction of 
the Catholic Church. It was even 
necessary for the "Appeal," in a long 
announcement, to remind the com- 
rades that their noble efforts to ward 
off the national danger must not make 
them remiss in their more direct 
duties, unless they would see their 
cherished publication laid away like 
others among the buried hopes. 

Socialism Is Un-Christian. 

It is rather surprising that the non- 
Catholic churchmen of this country 
have been so slow to see that Social- 
ism is the enemy of Christianity. 

The hostility of Socialism to Christi- 
anity is inevitable because of the fact 
that Socialism is not merely a polit- 
ical method, but also a philosophy oc 
life whose assumptions and aims are 
purely materialistic — are directed 
solely to the attainment of ideals of 
'comfort' as life's greatest good. 

Marxian Socialism refuses to con- 
cern itself with anything beyond the 
present life and this world. It has 
no answer — it even denies the need 
of any answer — to the perpetual ques- 
tion of the soul: "If a man die, shall 
he live again?" 

Socialism professes to leave every 
man free to think as he pleases on 



SOCIALISM AND OTHER NEAR-RELIGIONS. 163 



that subject. In reality it discourages 
thought on it as unimportant. The 
foremost exponents of Socialism have 
ever been avowed atheists, denying 
both the existence of God and the im- 
mortality of the soul. At best the at- 
titude of Socialism toward religion is 
agnostic. It says to the eternal ques- 
tion: "We don't know ; we can't find 
out; it isn't worth while to try." 

Denying the need of any religious 
sanction for morals, Socialism de- 
grades those human relations which 
Christianity, because of their funda- 
mental character in distinguishing 
men from brutes, has clothed with an 
especial sacredness. 

Marriage and the Home. 

Marriage, for example, is regarded 
by Socialism as purely a civil contract 
and as less binding than a contract 
for the purchase and sale of commodi- 
ties. 

To say this is not to say that all 
Socialists are unfaithful to their mar- 
riage vows. But it is merely a per- 
sonal practice in their case, not a 
matter of belief and principle. 

Wherever Socialism has obtained 
power in government, as in France 
before the war and in Russia later, 
that power is exerted to eliminate 
the Christian religion as an influence 
and factor in the conduct of human 
life. The public schools, under So- 
cialistic control, teach "morality" in- 
deed, but it is a morality without God 
and repudiating the need of any sort 
of sanction for its teachings beyond 
the finite reason and will. 

No real Christian can be a Social- 



ist — if he understands Socialism. The 
two systems are wholly antagonistic 
and mutually destructive. Socialism 
recognizes no higher power in the 
universe than man himself. 

Leaders' Views on Religion. 

What Marx says in his Secret So- 
ciety in Switzerland: "We shall do 
well if we stir hatred and contempt 
against all existing institutions ; we 
make war against all prevailing ideas 
of religion, of the state, of country, 
and of patriotism. The idea of God 
is the keystone of perverted civiliza- 
tion. The true root of civilization, 
the true root of liberty, of equality, 
and of culture, is Atheism." 

"The International Socialist move- 
ment with its thirty million adher- 
ents, at a conservative estimate, and 
its organized parties in twenty-five 
civilized countries in both hemis- 
pheres, is all based on the same Marx- 
ian program, and follows substan- 
tially the same methods of propaganda 
and action. The 'diverse Socialisms' 
outside the organized movement are 
represented by small groups of social 
and political dilettantes toying with 
problems of the universe and exercis- 
ing no influence whatsoever on the 
course of the International Socialist 
movement." 

A speech by a delegate at the Chi- 
cago convention, Mr. Lewis, is ex- 
pressive. He said: "I am among 
those who sincerely hoped the ques- 
tion of religion would not be raised 
at this convention. I am willing to 
concede that we should let sleeping 
dogs lie. I know that the Socialist 



164 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



position in philosophy on the question 
of religion does not make a good cam- 
paign subject. It is not useful propa- 
ganda in a political campaign. I 
do not propose to state in this plat- 
form the truth about religion from 
the point of view of the Socialist 
philosophy." — Chicago Daily Social- 
ist, May 16, 1908. 

Shaw's Theology. 

George Bernard Shaw, voluminous 
writer on many subjects, has evolved 
a system of Socialistic theology. His 
definite teachings are socialistic, be- 
ing summed up in what he calls 
four elements of Christian doctrine. 
1. The Kingdom of God is within 
you. That is merely another way of 
saying that since God is your father, 
and you and the father are one, you 
are really gods. 2. You cannot serve 
God and mammon, consequently get 
rid of property by throwing it into 
the common stock. Communism is 
inevitable for a follower of Christ. 
3. Judge not and you shall not be 
judged. Hence get rid once and for 
all of judges and punishments and 
revenge. 4. In the Kingdom of Heav- 
en there is no marriage or giving in 
marriage. Get rid, then, of all fam- 
ily entanglements. 

Christianity Perverted. 

Christianity is horribly treated in 
the above Shaw perversion, and Scrip- 
ture texts are woefully misinterpreted. 
His form of socialism is unique and 
all his own, and there are few 
who will not object to his dragging 



Christ's teachings to prove his case. 
Some of his arguments are not to be 
taken seriously, while even the chil- 
dren know, for instance, that Christ 
approved of marriage, that he did 
not resist the authority of judges and 
superiors, that while He condemned 
the abuse of riches, He never once 
condemned private property or advo- 
cated public ownership. 

Socialism and Religion. 

Under this head a prominent maga- 
zine, in 1914, conducted an epoch 
making debate between acknowledged 
authorities, which attracted world 
wide attention. Morris Hillquit, a 
man of national reputation, repre- 
sented the Socialist side and The Rev. 
John A. Ryan, D. D., then of St. Paul, 
was his opponent. Mr. Hillquit, de- 
spite his extreme views, is a brilliant 
speaker and thinker, while Dr. Ryan 
proved himself an opponent of rare 
skill. 

While the debate did not at first 
include the religious issue, yet in its 
closing stages the point of religion 
was treated as follows by Dr. Ryan: 

"In his reply to the charge that 
the Socialistic movement is antagonis- 
tic to religion, Mr. Hillquit admitted 
that the relations between the aver- 
age Socialist and the Church are 
'rather strained', and that the ma- 
jority of Socialists find it difficult, 
if not impossible, to reconcile their 
general philosophic views with the 
doctrines and practices of dogmatic 
religious creeds. He also refused to 
accept the suggestion that Socialism 



SOCIALISM AND OTHER NEAR-RELIGIONS. 165 



purge itself of its anti-religious ele- 
ments by eliminating the teachings on 
philosophy, ethics and religion. In 
substance, then, he conceded that So- 
cialism as a living movement and sys- 
tem of thought is fundamentally and 
necessarily incompatible with anv 
definite religious creed, whether 
Catholicism, Protestantism, or Ju- 
daism. 

"My opponent contended that the 
harmony existing between religion 
and science could not be proved from 
specific instances of believing scien- 
tists. I never said it could. I showed 
in the first place, that between 
science and religion there can be no 
antagonism, since they deal with en- 
tirely different spheres of reality; 
and in the second place, that the vast 
majority of scientists were religious 
believers. Apparently Mr. Hillquit 
did not care to refute the first state- 
ment. Instead of attempting the 
second statement, he shifted his 
ground, and declared that no har- 
mony is possible so long as the 
Church opposes science. ****** 
Neither he nor any one else can prove 
that the Catholic Church ever offi- 
cially or semi-officially condemned a 
principle or conclusion of science, 
which had already passed from the 



sphere of hypothesis to that of es- 
tablished fact. 

"There is, however, one unexcep- 
tionable statement in Mr. Hillquit 's 
surrebuttal. He says that 'there is 
little likelihood of a hearty under- 
standing and active cooperation be- 
tween the Socialist movement and the 
Catholic Church, so long as they both 
remain what they are.' How could 
any man who knows and thinks ex- 
pect anything else ? On the one hand 
Socialists will not reject those philo- 
sophical, ethical and religious doc- 
trines which make their system vast- 
ly more than an economic theory and 
program. On the other hand, the 
Catholic Church sees quite clearly the 
presence, the extent, and the perni- 
cious character of those non-economic 
elements in the Socialist movement 
and the Socialist system. As the 
guardian of faith and morals, she 
must unceasingly oppose organization 
that propagates such false and de- 
structive doctrines." 

Dr. Ryan was for twelve years pro- 
fessor of Moral Theology in the Semi- 
nary at St. Paul. He was ordained, 
a native of Minnesota, in 1898, re- 
ceiving his doctorate eight years later. 
At present writing he is attached to 
tne faculty of the Catholic University 
at Washington. 



Christian Science. 

The best that can be said in This is also the only thing that 

favor of " Christian Science " is can be said in its favor. It prin- 

that it is mostly a cult for the cipally attracts persons imbued with 

attaining and preserving of health, the instincts of those who lived in the 



166 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



time of Christ and demanded signs 
and wonders in healing from Him. He 
rebuked them then. Our Lord refused 
to give such a sign, because the pe- 
tition's spirit was an unworthy one. 
The same unworthy spirit prompts the 
crowd which throngs around every 
fake "healer" that appears from time 
to time, makes money and disappears. 
Quack doctors speculate on this ele- 
ment of human nature. Christian 
Science bases attraction upon it. 

Power of Healing. 

Miraculous cures followed the 
teaching of Jesus Christ. He per- 
formed miracles, but it was because 
He "had compassion upon the multi- 
tude." He intended primarily to in- 
fluence the people to whom He spoke. 
"If you do not believe Me,- believe 
My works." Never did He work a 
miracle in His own behalf. He suf- 
fered hunger, thirst and weariness on 
his journeys, and He told His follow- 
ers that it was necessary to do this 
in order to merit Heaven. 

The Apostles had the power of 
healing and used it, but only as proof 
of their calling. They took no such 
power to themselves. Everything was 
done in the name of Jesus Christ. 
They, too, never used the power for 
their own purposes and they prayed 
humbly to God before attempting to 
exercise it — in sharp contradistinction 
to the modern "science healer." 

Evils in Life. 

The teachings of Jesus Christ make 
it clear that suffering and pain are 
not evils of themselves, and that they 



certainly are not imaginary. They 
are conditions permitted or perhaps 
ordained by a merciful God to enable 
us to atone for our sins, or for the 
sins of others. They are a means of 
gaining happiness in the next world. 
To bear one 's cross in this life is Chris- 
tian; purely selfish objection to the 
cross proves Christian Science to be 
un-Christian. 

If it be for our advantage or for 
His glory, God will remove our suf- 
fering. He will relieve our pain, be- 
cause the same power exists in the 
Church today as in apostolic times. 
Moses and Elias in the old days, St. 
Gregory and St. Francis Xavier with 
many others in the middle ages, per- 
formed wonders that God might be 
glorified, His teachings confirmed, 
and men strengthened in their faith . 
The same power is being exercised 
today at Lourdes in France, St. 
Anne de Beaupre in Canada and in 
other places. But it is those chosen 
by God who are cured; that their 
spiritual condition might be bettered 
and the world be taught at these 
shrines that the Church is the pillar 
and the ground of truth. 

Explanation. 

It may be true that "Christian 
Science has helped people. But it 
is quite sure that such cases may be 
explained by medical science as be- 
ing due to what is known as sugges- 
tion or self-suggestion. And even if 
the cure be not imaginary or tempo- 
rary, this fact would not justify any- 
one in accepting a false and un- 
Christian doctrine. Whether we im- 



SOCIALISM AND OTHER NEAR-RELIGIONS. 167 



prove our health or our position iu 
life by adopting a new religion, we 
are no less renegades to truth. 
Worldly ambition and progress, good 
health even, does not excuse traitors 
to the teachings of Christ. 

Many men would have fared better 
before God, had they died in youth 
and innocence, rather than to live in 
maturity and sin. Children have re- 
covered in infancy, after frantic 
prayers by the affectionate mother, 
only to be a curse to her in later life. 
Where God grants us temporal 
favors, including health, in answer to 
prayer, He does so only on condition 
that such favors will be conducive to 
our good. What father, when asked 
for bread, will give his child a stone? 
There are worse things than sickness, 
and worse evils than death. God 
will not grant a favor unless, in His 
judgment, it is good for us. 

The evil spirit has control over cer- 
tain forces of nature, and can pro- 
duce effects which appear supernat- 
ural, and are intended for our harm. 
This is true of all such wonder-work 
as does not bear the stamp of Jesus 
Christ. 

How do we explain "Christian 
Science?" In the first place relig- 
ious peculiarities are not unknown. 
Many deluded persons have claimed 
divine inspiration in the history of 
the world. Mrs. Eddy is not the first 
deceiver. Commercialism may have 
something to do with the growth of 
this heresy — certainly the growth 
proves that the "Christian Science" 



leaders know how to avail themselves 
of advertising features, at least. 

Then, religious people, unless un- 
der guidance, often grow supersti- 
tious. Those who reject Christianity 
easily swallow absurdities. Mrs. 
Eddy received a revelation, they say. 
Is her word sufficient for this ? They 
have no proofs that will bring con- 
viction to reasonable minds, especially 
in the face of many nonsensical 
utterances made by the cult's found- 
ress and her followers. 

The world today is science-mad, and 
no less insane on the subject of healtn. 
People accept anything, even such 
statements as Mrs. Eddy makes 
about murder, robbery and the 
like crimes ; that they are only 
delusions. And if you are sick, 
she declares, it is not necessary 
to call in a doctor. "Christian 
Scientists" think it right to let the 
victims of sickness (which is another 
delusion, according to them), die, with 
no more help than the "Christian 
Science" healer can give. It seems 
like letting a blind man walk over a 
precipice. 

Mind and Matter. 

The attractive features in Chris- 
tian Science are the much advertised 
principle of the superiority of mind 
over matter, and the proposition of 
the general predominance of goodness 
in the world. It is true that mind 
is superior to matter, but Christian 
Science did not first discover or 
teach this fact. The Church has al- 
ways expressed it. Jesus Christ has 
exemplified it by His fortitude in 
bearing human weakness. Man's 



168 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



highest powers are those of his soul. 
Jesus toH us to "be not solicitous 
for the things of the body," but He 
also showed us that we could not 
escape the trials of life. And as th? 
apostle afterwards said, we should 
glory in oar infirmities as ths best 
means of gaining Heaven. And it in 
also true that there is a preponder- 
ance of good in the world. There is 
little evil in which some good is not 
found, and the good of life outweighs 
the evil of decay and death. The 
greatest good which we possess is life 
itself. But we are indebted to 
Christian Science for neither of these 
facts, however the "Christian Scien- 
tists" may emphasize either of them. 

The Church teaches us how to de- 
tach ourselves from the attractions of 
sense, and how to turn material evil 
into spiritual good. She teaches us 
the need of self-denial. If we hesi- 
tate to do this she imposes on us acts 
of mortification, following Her Di- 
vine Founder Who said, "If any man 
will come after Me, let him deny him- 
self, take up his cross and follow 
Me." 

It is no exaggeration to say thai 
"Christian Science" is branded as 
dangerous heresy — one aggravated by 
deaths of helpless children — and of 
adults, too — on account of the refusal 
of "Christian Scientists" to provide 
or to follow legitimate medical treat- 
ment in sickness easy to cure by means 
of a capable physician's attention, 
but fatal without such help. 
Theosophy. 

If we consider the meaning of the 
word by which this belief is known, 



more is promised than found. Theos- 
ophy means wisdom concerning God, 
and is intended to mean the knowl- 
edge of God obtained by direct inspi- 
ration of the Divine Essence. Those 
who call themselves Theosophists are 
considered — by themselves — to be in 
close harmony with the central prin- 
ciple of the universe. Such knowl- 
edge is supposed to free them from 
the limitations of human life and give 
them power over the hidden forces of 
the universe. 

India is the home of theosophy, 
which dates back a good many cen- 
turies. Brahmin writings contain the 
origin of theosophists' ideas, which 
have since been mixed with other be- 
liefs. Buddhism, for instance, comes 
from this source. The basic doctrines 
constitute Pantheism. Theosophy 's 
latest development is the Yoga, one 
who exercises to free the soul from 
the body, which is attached like a 
string to a bow. By starving the 
body, forcing it into painful postures, 
concentrating thought — Theosophy 
teaches — one might acquire power 
over the soul. One who can do this 
is called a Mahatma, a master soul. 
His soul is supposed to be released 
temporarily from the body, and may 
move about, perhaps even controlling 
less powerful souls. When the soul 
returns, then his body awakes. Re- 
peated efforts can bring about per- 
petual release of the soul, and then 
(Theosophists) claim that it flies to 
Heaven in great happiness. 

Modern Theosophy. 

Modern theosophy was introduced 
into New York by Madam Blavatsky, 



SOCIALISM AND OTHER NEAR-RELIGIONS. 169 



in 1875. The school founded there 
claims to have the true solution for 
the problems of the world through 
the learned men of the East. A part 
of its teaching is directly derived 
from the East, although it is varied 
with modern additions. 

As presented to the world, it is a 
strange mixture of mysticism with 
trickery and pretense, expressed in 
terms which seem to display scien- 
tific truth, while at the same time 
striving for a religious atmosphere. 
There is no need of saying that this 
so-called Theosophy is, by its very 
nature irreconcilable with Catholic 
Truth, even as so-called "Christian 
Science," and cannot possibly be 
made to square with Catholicity. 

New Thought. 

New fads in religion spring up like 
mushrooms in the night. One of 
these has been dubbed by its origin- 
ator "New Thought." If its fatal 
lack of all the teachings of Christian- 
ity can be considered either "new" 
or "thought" it is welcome to the 
designation. Plainly speaking, it is 
a jargon, a hodge-podge of unintel- 
ligible things. It is doubtful whether 
the founder of this cult, a certain 
Julia Seton Sears, knows herself 
what she means. She envelopes her 
sayings in an air of mystery. It is 
philosophy and theology, so she says, 
but to the analytical mind it is 
neither. Vagaries make it up very 
largely. It goes without saying that 
it is a sweeping repudiation of Cath- 



olic doctrines, and subversive of 
Christian principles. 

Rejection of Christianity. 

But Julia Seton Sears boldly as- 
serts that "New Thought is a re- 
ligion." She is its self-appointed 
high-priestess. Her definition sounds 
the keynote of its mission at the same 
time: "New Thought is a product of 
the twentieth century thought and 
need : it has its birth in human expe- 
rience and human enf oldment. ' ' 
The wonder grows how much expe- 
rience she has had and what she 
really knows about "human enfold- 
ment. " But clearly she discards the 
Savior and the doctrine of Atone- 
ment, furnishing this substitute : 
"While the old-thought world prayed 
to its Jesus, the new thought-world 
suggested to its subconsciousness." 
She presumes to call this change a 
psychological one. She rejects the 
need of salvation with the audacious 
claim: "Man never had a soul to 
save; but he is a soul saved by his 
immortal birthright of union with 
the great cosmic mind of God." Here 
she denies original sin and upholds 
unmitigated pantheism. There is no 
need of redemption, and she does not 
blush to say: 

"It matters little to those who 
really understand Truth, whether 
Jesus, the Christ lived, or whether 
He was only a symbol worked out 
by the imagination of men and 
priests." The gist of her nonsense is 
recognized in this statement: "New 
Thought has gotten away from all 
idea of supplication or penitence; it 



170 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



calls for no renunciation, no denial, 
no limitations; it stands for bound- 
less individual freedom." 

Faddists in Religion. 

A writer in "America" sets forth 
the danger of this cult : 

"Dilettanti and faddists in religion 
will find in New Thought a certain 
cheap cleverness, together with some 
novel conceits and a bold denial of 
most that the world has hitherto ac- 
cepted. They will, moreover, be flat- 
tered by the persuasion that to be 
indoctrinated with New Thought is 
to be better than the rest of men. 
They may be caught by some of its 
principles of conduct, which although 
wholly divorced from the supernat- 
ural, seem to make for a sort of self- 
ish happiness, or at least absence of 
care. But a person who can find an 
appeal in it cannot be a Christian 
even at heart. Active adhesion to its 
tenets means apostasy from the Faith. 
No one can accept New Thought as 
expounded by Julia Seton Sears with- 
out professing undisguised heresy." 

Spiritism. 

It is an interesting fact that so 
soon as the authoritative religion of 
any country or civilization begins to 
be shaken, Spiritism in some form, 
almost invariably makes its appear- 
ance—whether the necromancy of the 
East, or the witchcraft of the Jews, 
or the frank Spiritism of our own 
day, says Monsignor Robert Hugh 
Benson. Yet it is very natural that 
this should be so. For so long as a 
religion, even if false, is accepted as 



traditionally and conventionally true, 
man's curiosity is in a measure sat- 
isfied; but the moment that the 
foundations of established religion 
are shaken, once more that funda- 
mental and, indeed, natural curiosity 
reawakens and begins to demand 
convincing and reassuring answers to 
the questions that the soul perpetu- 
ally generates. 

In Christian civilization, however, 
there is an additional reason as to 
why Spiritism should manifest itself 
as particularly strong. Until the six- 
teenth century Divine Revelation was 
accepted in its entirety, and included, 
of course, many dogmas as to the 
after-world and the condition of hu- 
man spirits that had passed into it. 
The invocation of saints and the prac- 
tice of prayers for the departed, each 
in its own way, kept that spiritual 
world before men's attention, and, 
simultaneously, answered such ques- 
tions as they had a right to ask. With 
the rise of Protestantism, however, 
and its heartless and unspiritual neg- 
lect of the holy dead, once more twi- 
light came down, deepening into 
darkness, over men's conceptions of 
that world which Divine Revelation 
had illuminated, and legitimate ques- 
tions were left unanswered. What 
could be more natural, therefore, 
than that as soon as the temporary 
authoritativeness of Protestantism 
began to pass away, and its fallibility 
began to be demonstrated, inquiring 
and even devout soals should begin 
to explore that realm on which their 
religion was so unaccountably silent? 
Hence, it is almost entirely among 



SOCIALISM AND OTHER NEAR-RELIGIONS. 171 



the non-C?tholic nations that Spirit- 
ism has flourished ar.d among them, 
too, that it is making such appalling 
progress at the present day. 

Phenomena. 

Now, it is impossible to deny alto- 
gether, as many wish to do, the phe- 
nomena of Spiritism ; and at any rate, 
according to the view of all serious 
theologians, and of others who have 
made a close study of Spiritism, it 
is further impossible to account for 
many of these phenomena on natural 
grounds. When all deductions and 
allowances have been made for cre- 
dulity, hypocrisy, fraud and exagger- 
ation, there yet remains a solid body 
of phenomena, the denial of which 
would mean to deny the value of 
human testimony. 

These phenomena are of various 
kinds: There are first, those which 
seem to prove nothing more than the 
active presence of preternatural be- 
ings — phenomena such as the levita- 
tion of heavy bodies, the production 
of raps and sounds unproducible by 
human agency. 

Secondly, there are those which 
appear to prove that sources of in- 
formation are being tapped and in- 
telligible communications are being 
made such as are again beyond the 
reach of the human persons visibly 
present — such phenomena as the giv- 
ing of identifiable messages and an- 
swers to questions the substance of 
which is known to no one beyond the 
recipient or the questioner. These 
communications are made sometimes 
by the voice of the medium (or the 



professional minister of the Spirit- 
ists) — sometimes by "planchette", 
(that is, a tiny table on wheels, 
placed over paper, with a pencil run- 
ning through it, on which either the 
medium's or the questioner's fingers 
are placed) — sometimes under cir- 
cumstances which preclude human in- 
tervention — (as when the information 
is written down on the inner side of 
a pair of locked slates). 

Thirdly, the supreme phenomenon 
of Spiritism is that known as materi- 
alization ; and it consists in the actual 
apparation of a deceased person, 
recognized by those present, some- 
times so accessible to the senses that 
his body can be handled as well as 
seen. 

Explanation. 

Yet, in spite of these claims, in 
spite of the fact that theologians rec- 
ognize in some of the phenomena of 
Spiritism the presence and the agency 
of beings not of this world; in spite 
of the fact that some Spiritistic 
teachings are tolerably in accord with 
those of Christianity; in spite of the 
conversion of many materialists to a 
belief in a spiritual world through 
the Spiritistic propaganda — in spite 
of all this, the Catholic Church con- 
demns Spiritism with an indignation 
she does not often manifest, and for- 
bids her children under pain of mor- 
tal sin to frequent Spiritistic meet- 
ings, even out of motives of curiosity. 
The reason for it is that Spiritism in 
its moral religious effects is directly 
opposed to Christian truths. 

In the earlier stages the Spiritistic 



172 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



inquirer is encouraged to believe that 
he can remain a Christian and con- 
tinue to believe Christian dogmas. 
As he advances, little by little he 
learns that the true Spiritist is be- 
yond Christian dogma. Among oth- 
ers the teaching of the "spirits" on 
such truths as the divinity of Christ, 
the consequences of sin and the 
means of grace is a flat contradiction 
of Divine Revelation. 

The moral effects of Spiritistic 
practices are appalling. It is of 
course impossible to give statistics on 
such a point; but those who are in- 
terested would do well to read the 
excellent books of Mr. Godfrey Rau- 
pert, and others like them, dealing 
with this matter. Nervous break- 
down and actual insanity are among 
the lesser evils resulting from this 
pernicious "religion". 

The whole atmosphere of the "se- 
ance" frequently degenerates into 
one of fraud and prevarication and 
feeble practical joking. Ridiculous 
tricks are played by the "spirits" 
upon devout inquirers; they are led 
on, in subjects connected with their 
most sacred feelings, only to find in 
the end that they have been duped 
and deceived. 

It is impossible to find in all "spirit 
teachings" any spiritual instruction 
comparable even to the elements of 
Catholic teaching. 

Independent inquirers — those for 
example, who have privately experi- 
mented with "planchette" or the 
ouija board — not only have con- 
stantly found that their whole moral 
fibre has suffered, but even that sen- 



tences, blasphemous and obscene, 
have been written down by the in- 
spiration of those so-called teachers 
from the other world! 

These, very briefly, are the prin- 
cipal causes for the Church's con- 
demnation of Spiritism. 

The Ouija Board. 

J. Godfrey Raupert, K. S. G., an 
authority on Spiritism had a splendid 
article in the Ecclesiastical Review 
on the subject of the Ouija Board a 
few years ago at the height of the 
fad's popularity. 

This dangerous plaything has been 
known to the ancients. Proofs of its 
early existence are many in the his- 
tory of China. As the chief danger is 
in beginners attracted to it for fun. 
Mr. Raupert gives three reasons for 
his condemnation of the practice, the 
first being this, that the particular 
spirit who "talks" by way of the 
Ouija Board cannot be conclusively 
identified and proves, on close inves- 
tigation, to be an evil one not at all 
the spirit of a departed one. Sec- 
ondly, they give mostly frivolous, 
contradictory and intellectually 
worthless messages. The third and 
most impelling reason is the physical, 
moral and mental effect on the ex- 
perimenter. 

These reasons agree with conditions 
found in professional mediums. Dr. 
Neward Cumington, a competent med- 
ical authority, testified that "hun- 
dreds of persons become insane yearly 
by means of these experiments." 
Dr. Mercier of London, Dr. Viollet 
of France and Dr. Lapponi of Italy 



SOCIALISM AND OTHER NEAR RELIGIONS. 



173 



are international authorities quoted 
by Dr. Raupert in reporting spirit- 
istic practices as dangerous to mental 
and moral health. 

Hypnotism and Mesmerism. 

What is popularly known as Hyp- 
notism today originated in Mesmer- 
ism, a set of theories propounded by 
Frederic Mesmer, a German physician 
in 1778. He held that one person 
can exercise influence over the will 
and nervous system of another, and 
produce certain phenomena by power 
of a supposed emanation, called ani- 
mal magnetism, or simply by the dom- 
ination of his will over that of the 
other. Originally Mesmer professed 
to produce his results by power of 
actual magnets, but all such appa- 
ratus has long been abandoned and 
those who profess belief in magnetism 
refer it to the body of the mesmerist. 
Six stages were distinguished, the 
walking stage, the half-sleep, mes- 
meric sleep or stupor somnambulism, 
self contemplation or clairvoyance, 
universal illumination in which the 
person is supposed to know all that 
is going on in distant regions — all 
this is promised students of animal 
magnetism. 

Hypnotism is a sleep-like condition 
brought on by artificial means, and 
in this way is applied to the use of 
medicines which aim to produce sleep 
in sickness. Specifically, however, it 
is a sleepy condition induced by a 
brilliant object held before the eyes 
at which the person is required to 
look steadily. The practices of pro- 
fessional hypnotists are familiar to 



all. It is known that hypnotism has 
tremendous possibilities as a cura- 
tive agent. But the methods of the 
fakes and imposters who cloak their 
operations behind the veil of this 
"ism" are perhaps not so generally 
known. Are there sufficient real ben- 
efits to medical or any other form of 
science likely to result from hyp- 
notic investigations which will obvi- 
ate its possibilities of evil? This is 
the question sometimes proposed. 

The "subject" is completely at the 
mercy of the hypnotist, in any of the 
various stages of the "trance". This 
trance can be induced by various 
means and in time may even be 
brought on the subject by himself. 
Catalepsy, lethargy and somnambu- 
lism bring different degrees of intens- 
ity, in the lighter degrees of which the 
subject knows what is going on, but 
must remain completely in accord 
with the operator. In the deeper 
stages, the subject loses connection 
more and more with other objects, re- 
taining only that communication and 
complete subserviance to the opera- 
tor. In this condition crimes may 
easily be suggested and carried out, 
according to an authority (Bern- 
heim.) 

The question as to whether hyp- 
notism is right or wrong cannot eas- 
ily be answered, as yet. The Church 
is very careful not to condemn out- 
right anything which is merely new 
or apparently marvelous. Nor will 
the Church condemn a thing which 
is liable to abuse or which has been 
abused, although good in itself. She 
will condemn the abuse and leave the 



174 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



good untouched. In matters of this 
kind the Church can afford to wait 
for scientific development. The true 
character of hypnotism will become 
better understood in time. 

Hypnotism in Medicine. 

In the matter of medicine the use 
of hypnotism appears to be effica- 
cious in some cases, yet a writer 
in the "Month," (Oct., 1890), says: 
"Save in the hands of duly qualified 
operators, and very few can attain 
that position, attempts at hypnotism 
are nothing short of criminal, as nec- 
essarily involving a terrible disturb- 
ance of the whole nervous system — a 
disturbance which may extend to all 
the faculties." As Father H. G. 
Hughes concludes his article in the 
Catholic Truth Society publication on 
the subject, quoting from the article 
in the "Month", referred to above, 
he says to those about to hypnotize, 
"Don't!" And to "those about to get 
hypnotized we would still more em- 
phatically say, 'Don't!' " 

Clairvoyance — Fortune-telling. 

There is a stage of mesmerism in 
which the subject appears as if in a 
trance and this way is said to be able 
to see things not present to the sight. 
Things at a distance, it is alleged, can 
be perceived by the spirit. Those who 
frequently advertise fortune-telling by 
use of this trance are called clairvoy- 
ants. They claim to be able to foretell 
the future in this way. Just as the 
heathens used astrology and the Ro- 
mans by flight of birds and their cries 
foretold future events, so even Chris- 



tians are deceived into believing 
in this divination of the future. 
The use of cards and other meth- 
ods just as popular always find 
adherents. Hundreds of people 
make a living on this weakness 
of human nature. Superstitious 
belief is attached to so many foolish 
things, and those, who profess to 
laugh at the credulity of others on 
one particular, yet stoop to their own 
pet superstition. Our catechism 
especially forbids any such yielding 
to belief in fortunetellers and any 
frequenting of places where fortunes 
are told. Yet, attracted there, so many 
Catholics attempt to excuse their ac- 
tions on the ground of pastime or 
fun, proclaiming all the time their 
disbelief in the powers of the so- 
called clairvoyant. Any attempt to 
attribute to created things powers 
which do not belong to them is wrong 
and forbidden. 

Fortune Telling. 

Clairvoyance in the matter of for- 
tune-telling is but an outgrowth of 
pagan superstition. It is told of the 
Indians in America that their medi- 
cine-men knew the trance and fre- 
quently pretended to announce events 
taking place in distant parts. Secret 
societies among the Indians attached 
certain rites to this practice. This 
use of the trance was entirely feigned 
or else entered into with forms of 
trickery to deceive the tribe. In for- 
tune-telling it is a production intended 
only to deceive. Most of the "medi- 
ums" are uncultivated, ignorant of 
even the principles of the form of 



SOCIALISM AND OTHER NEAR RELIGIONS. 



175 



science they attempt to demonstrate. 
Tricks and deception are their whole 
stock in trade. They are frequently 
exposed in the daily press and the 
police find it necessary just as often 
to protect the gullible folks who lay 
themselves open to the schemes of 
these workers in feigned magic by 
driving the fakers out of town. 

The Trance. 

In the story of the life of St. Al- 
phonsus it is related that at Arienzo, 
on September 21, 1774, in the pres- 
ence of a large crowd he went into 
a trance by means of which he 
reported scenes at the death-bed of 
Pope Clement XIV, many miles away. 
And in the life of Father Joseph 
Anchieta, the Apostle of Brazil, a 
similar case is reported, 1597. Many 
supernatural episodes appear in the 
life of the latter whose beatification is 
now under way. But it is certain that 
if these events are true and correct, 
as reported, that the trance or clair- 
voyance in their cases came upon 
them unsolicited and for good. Any 
use of this power for other reasons is 
wrong and forbidden. 

Luck, Good and Bad. 

The terms "good luck" and "bad 
luck," as employed in ordinary con- 
versation, mean that which happens 
to a person by chance, and is con- 
ceived of as if there were an inward 
connection between a succession of 
fortuitous occurrences having a fa- 
vorable or unfavorable character. 
This definition of luck is given by 



a writer in Ave Maria. In the esti- 
mation of most philosophers and mor- 
alists, however, they are terms applied 
to non-existent things, the article 
reads. "There is no such thing as 
luck," writes a shrewd publicist; "in 
reality, it is a fancy name for being 
always at our duty, and so sure to 
be ready when the good time comes." 

Very rarely, if at all, do we hear 
complaints about hard luck coming 
from a man who is industrious, care- 
ful, prudent and honest. As Addison 
puts it, "A good character, good hab- 
its, and iron industry are impreg- 
nable to the assaults of all the ill-luck 
that fools ever dreamed of." In nine 
cases out of ten the ill-luck of which 
complaint is made comes from saying 
pleasure first and duty second, in- 
stead of duty first and pleasure 
second. 

Emerson declares that all success- 
ful men have agreed in being causa- 
tionists; they believed that things 
come about not by luck, but by law, 
that there is not a weak or cracked 
link in the chain that joins the first 
and the last of things, the cause and 
the effect. An anonymous writer hits 
the nail on the head when he says, 
" 'luck' is a very good word if you 
put a P before it." 

In the vocabulary of the good 
Christian the substitute for "luck" 
is "Divine Providence," whose ways, 
however inscrutable they may be to 
our limited vision, we know to be un- 
ceasingly for our good. As it is al- 
ways true, however, that God helps 
those who help themselves, there is 
a wealth of sound practical philoso- 



176 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



phy in Cobden's extended contrast: 
"Luck is ever waiting for something 
to turn up. Labor with keen eyes 
and strong will, will turn up some- 
thing. Luck lies in bed, and wishes 
the postman would bring him the 



news of a legacy. Labor turns out 
at six o'clock, and with busy pen or 
ringing hammer lays the foundation 
of a competence. Luck whines while 
labor whistles. Luck relies on chance ; 
labor on character." 



Bibliography. 

Additional works not directly quoted on the subject matter 
of this chapter are: Pope Leo XIIFs Encyclical on The Condition 
of Labor; Socialism, Devas; Socialism, Kleiser; Church and Social 
Problems, Husslein; A Nation of Fatherless Children, Goldstein- 
Avery; Common Sense View of Christian Science, Krull; Christian 
Science and Catholic Teaching, Goggan; Dangers of Spiritism, 
Raupert; Hypnotism, Hughes; Theosophy, Hull. 




AMERICAN ARCHBISHOPS 



Top, left, Archbishop Curley, Baltimore; top, right, Archbishop Shaw, New Orleans; 
lower, left, Archbishop Dowling, St. Paul; Archbishop Messmer, Milwaukee. 



CHAPTER IX 



Catholic Societies. 

St. Vincent de Paul— Holy Name Society— Wonderful Growth — League of the 
Sacred Heart — Spiritual Benefits — Promises to St. Margaret Mary— The Holy Hour 
— Sodality of the Blessed Virgin — Its Practical Work — Other Societies. 

Societies of Catholic Men and Women — Conditions for Memhership — Catholic 
Order of Foresters— Associations of Irish Men and Women — The Ancient Order 
of Hibernians — Distrikt Verband — Katholischer Vereinsbund— Polish Catholic Socie- 
ties — Knights of Columbus — Defence of Faith — Social Work — Columbus Day — 
Women Conduct Great Organizations — W. C. 0. F., L. C. B. A., Daughters of 
Isabella, National Circle, D. of L, Ladies of Isabella, Catholic Daughters of America, 
Ladies' Auxiliary, A. 0. H., Catholic Woman's League, National Order, Daughters 
of Isabella, Catholic Knights and Ladies of America, Central Society, Knights and 
Ladies of St. John. 



There are many good societies into 
which Catholic men and women have 
banded themselves for mutual protec- 
tion. A distinction is here made be- 
tween such societies and those which 
exist in the Church altogether from 
spiritual motives. Our insurance socie- 
ties are excellent institutions worthy 
of every Catholic's participation, yet 
their objects cannot be said to class 
them under the same head as others 
which are especially dear because of 
their higher purely religious aims. 

Purely Religious Societies. 

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul 
was founded in Paris, France, in May, 
1833, by Frederick Ozanam. The so- 
ciety is designed to cultivate special 
graces among its members by the per- 
formance of services eminently accept- 
able to God. Its members visit and 



bring comfort to the poor, sick and 
imfortunate, ministering to their ma- 
terial wants and affording them relig- 
ious consolation. Strict secrecy is im- 
posed on the members in the matter of 
assistance rendered, lest the feelings of 
any needy persons be hurt — this being 
in accordance with the highest princi- 
ple of charity. The members are not 
often known and their work is not 
widely advertised. Although the so- 
ciety's work is constant and extensive, 
it operates with practically no expense 
— because none of its members charge 
for their time and energy, so that there 
is no salary list. 

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul 
of Chicago has eighty-four conferences 
or branches. They are made up of 
],500 active and 800 honorary mem- 
bers. In one year the Society aided 
2,219 needy families, spending more 



178 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



than $38,000, which amount was en- 
tirely paid over to the needy. 

New York City's conference of St. 
Vincent de Paul during one winter 
gathered in over forty-five thousand 
dollars. Out of that two thousand 
dollars was paid for general expenses, 
and two thousand for wages of those in 
charge of the various homes maintained 
by the society. The balance went di- 
rectly to the needy. Contrast this with 
non-Catholic organized charity, which 
in Chicago one year paid out in salar- 
ies and expenses recently more than 
fifty-five per cent of the total amount 
collected for charitable work. 

The work of the St. Vincent de Paul 
society, although quiet, spreads far and 
wide. There are five branches in the 
United States, each branch having jur- 
isdiction over a certain territory. Each 
parish has its conference, presided over 
by the pastor. 

For charity, that is charity through 
and through, commend us to the Socie- 
ty of St. Vincent de Paul. We confess 
that it is its spirit and its methods 
alone which in the present day justify 
for ourselves the concept of organized 
charity. A reorganization of the So- 
ciety, which will render its methods 
still more effective, is now in progress, 
the plans for which have received the 
highest ecclesiastical sanction. They 
provide that : 

1. The divisions of the Society shall 
be on provincial or archdiocesan lines. 
2. The archiepiscopal city of the ec- 
clesiastical province shall be made the 
center of each division. 3. The names 
cf the Councils, as at present existing, 
shall be retained. 4. Each province 



shall be in charge of a Central Coun- 
cil; each particular Council shall re- 
port and communicate with said Cen- 
tral Council. In cases where Central 
Councils are not formed, the particular 
Councils and isolated conferences are 
to be in direct communication with the 
Superior or National Council. 5. The 
general organization of the Society 
in the United States shall be made 
up as heretofore stated, and shall be 
known as the Superior Council of the 
United States. 

The Holy Name Society. 

In 1432, in thanksgiving for the ces- 
sation of a great plague, large numbers 
of people in Lisbon manifested great 
devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus. 
Prior to this, in 1274, Pope Gregory 
X had commissioned the Dominican 
Fathers to propagate that particular 
devotion. In the fifteenth century the 
organization was effected and its ob- 
jects proclaimed, namely, to extend 
belief in the divinity of Jesus Christ, 
to honor His Sacred Name, and to sup- 
press all language by which disrespect 
is shown the Holy Name. The splendid 
fashion in which the society has spread, 
especially in this country, is proof of 
its value. Of one demonstration alone 
in Philadelphia, the Catholic Standard 
and Times says : 

"Forty thousand men — 'mere men' 
— civilized Christian members of the 
community, in sober holiday habili- 
ments, marching in stately, measured 
pace, in broad ranks, to the accompani- 
ment of noble music, are a spectacle, 
surely that must stir the Christian 
soul to its uttermost ecstasy of love for 



CATHOLIC SOCIETIES. 



179 



the Lord of the Universe and the Giver 
of all grace and blessing. Such was 
the spectacle which the city of Phil- 
adelphia presented last Sunday." 

Under the spiritual guidance of the 
Eight Reverend Bishop MeGaviek, the 
Society in Chicago increased its devel- 
opment in marvelous manner. At the 
annual meeting, 1922, before his trans- 
fer to La Crosse, the Bishop reported 
70,000 members in 200 branches 
throughout the city. Especially inter- 
esting was the report of Society activ- 
ities among the boys of the city. The 
Big Brother movement showed 117 
committees working to help the young 
men. More than two thousand dollars 
was spent in three months helping the 
boys in trouble with the Boys' Court 
and the Juvenile Court. 

The society has a legal aid branch 
for helping the boys, a moving picture 
supervision committee, a lecture bu- 
reau, providing free entertainment for 
branches, and other features of practi- 
cal value, all directed from a central 
office in which the superintendent, Mr. 
Craine, operates under suggestions of 
Bishop Hoban, present spiritual direc- 
tor, who has Monsignor Bona and Rev. 
D. Byrnes as assistants. A notable 
feature has been support of the Cath- 
olic Press by which the society arranges 
with the New World for weekly publi- 
cation of its many activities. 

Growth of the Society. 

Nor are Chicago and Philadelphia 
a 7 one in the present day development 
of the Holy Name Society's strength. 
New York, Boston, Pittsburg, St. Louis, 
New Orleans, all the cities of the coun- 



try are spreading its lessons. Every 
parish has its branch, and by means 
of it men are encouraged in paths of 
virtue and habits of regularity in de- 
votion. The Holy Name Journal, a 
monthly, is the official paper of the 
Society, and is published in New York 
City, at the offices of the Director 
General, Rev. Father Ripple, O. P., 871 
Lexington avenue. The society has 
also made great progress with its 
junior organization for boys, spread 
almost as extensively as the older so- 
ciety. 

Catholic Total Abstinence Union. 

In Baltimore, February, 1872, this 
organization was effected. Its purpose 
has been to make reparation for the 
sins of intemperance among Catho- 
lics, and to promote the virtue of 
temperance by the practice of total 
abstinence. 

The Catholic Church has always 
been prominent in the cause of temper- 
ance. Father Matthew, in Ireland, 
stands foremost among its apostles. 
American prelates are to the front. 
Right Rev. Regis Canevin, formerly 
bishop of Pittsburg, and Father O'Cal- 
laghan, C. S. P., formerly of Chicago, 
are prominent present-day workers. 

League of the Sacred Heart. 

An organization which encourages 
devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus 
is the League of the Sacred Heart 
under the direction of the Jesuit 
Fathers, with offices at the headquar- 
ters of the Apostleship of Prayer in 
New York City. 

For this purpose, although every 



180 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Friday is devoted to the Sacred Heart, 
yet the First Friday of each month is 
especially set aside, and of late years 
this practice has been remarkably ex- 
tended. There is no Church so small 
or so remote as to be without this de- 
votion, and the First Friday has grown 
to be an established fact in the routine 
of the Church. This devotion has its 
origin in the Promise made by Jesus 
Christ to Saint Margaret Mary Ala- 
coque in a revelation (1673). 

The devotional practices of the 
league have been especially recognized 
by the Church. The beatification of 
Margaret Mary in 1864 and her canon- 
ization in 1920 proves this. The Holy 
Father, each month, names a partic- 
ular intention for the prayers of mem- 
bers of the League, and especially com- 
mends their devotion. Each church 
has its own organization, with the Pas- 
tor in charge, made up of bands of 
fifteen in care of a Promoter, the whole 
registered with the Director General. 
Regularly a leaflet, illustrative of the 
particular intention, with a list of feast 
days of the month, is distributed to 
each member. The Messenger of the 
Sacred Heart is the official organ of 
the League. A Novena to the Sacred 
Heart, popularly called the Nine Fri- 
days, is almost universally practiced. 
It consists of the reception of Holy 
Communion on each of nine consecu- 
tive First Fridays, with the necessary 
preparation, Confession and appro- 
priate prayers. 

Spiritual Benefits. 

Leo XIII, of pious memory, has 
granted to all the faithful who on Fri- 



day, after Confession and Communion, 
sball meditate for some time upon the 
infinite goodness of the Sacred Heart 
of Jesus and pray according to the 
intention of the Supreme Pontiff: 

A Plenary Indulgence on the First 
Friday of every month — 

An Indulgence of seven years and 
seven quarantines on all other Fridays 
in the year. 

Twelve Promises. 

Made by Our Lord to Saint Mar- 
garet Mary in favor of those de- 
nted to His Sacred Heart. 

1. "I will give them all the graces 
necessary for their state of life." 

2. "I will establish peace in their 
families. ' ' 

3. "I will console them in all their 
difficulties. ' ' 

4. "I will be their assured refuge 
in life, and more especially at death." 

5. "I will pour out abundant bene- 
dictions on all their undertakings." 

6. "Sinners shall find in My Heart 
an infinite ocean of mercy." 

7. "Tepid souls shall become fer- 
vent." 

8. "Fervent souls shall advance 
rapidly to great perfection." 

9. "I will bless the houses in which 
the image of My Heart shall be ex- 
posed and honored." 

10. "I will give to priests the power 
of touching the most hardened hearts." 

11. "Persons who propagate this de- 
votion, shall have their names inscribed 
in My Heart, and they shall never 
be effaced from It." 

12. "I promise thee, in the excess of 
the mercy of My Heart, that Its all- 
powerful love will grant to all those 



CATHOLIC SOCIETIES. 



181 



who receive Communion on the First 
Friday of every Month, for nine con- 
secutive months, the grace of full re- 
pentance and that they shall not die 
under My displeasure, nor without re- 
ceiving the Sacraments, and that My 
Heart shall be their secure refuge at 
that last hour." 

The Holy Hour. 

A beautifully pious practice is that 
of the Holy Hour. It is intended to 
offer a return to our Blessed Lord for 
the loneliness endured by Him in the 
Garden of Gethsemane on the occasion 
of His Agony. It is recalled that, 
leaving His Apostles with the injunc- 
tion to stay and watch, He entered 
upon His great Agony. Keturning 
after a little, He found them asleep. 
His rebuke, contained in the words, 
"Could you not watch one hour with 
Me?" offers the occasion for the aton- 
ment aimed at in the Holy Hour. Cath- 
olics find an opportunity of watch- 
ing "one hour" with our Savior in the 
Blessed Sacrament, offering Him repa- 
ration for past neglect and coldness, 
for the insults so frequently offered 
Him by an unthinking world. The 
Holy Hour is encouraged everywhere 
for this very purpose. 

It is stated that one of the revela- 
tions made to St. Margaret Mary, 
was that at a certain hour on a 
certain day each month she should 
offer such reparation by visiting 
the Blessed Sacrament, for a full 
hour. Prostrate before the altar, 
from eleven to twelve, on the eve of 
the First Friday, each month, she spent 
her life in devotion toward the Blessed 



Sacrament. Out of this has developed 
the Holy Hour as it is known through- 
out this country, which properly may 
be made between 2 p. m. on Thursday 
and sunrise on Friday, as prescribed. 

The Blessed Sacrament is solemnly 
exposed, just as in Benediction. The 
Salutaris is sung and the customary 
incensing takes place. Then through- 
out the hour follows an arrangement 
of prayer, hymns, litanies, and medi- 
tation, according to the judgment of 
the pastor. Toward the close, the Tan- 
tum Ergo is sung and the hour closes 
as is usual at Benediction of the 
Blessed Sacrament. This ceremony fol- 
lows the devotion of the Sacred Heart 
on the First Fridays being arranged, 
as far as possible, as revealed. On 
special occasions, such as the close of 
Retreats, the Holy Hour proves a most 
excellent climax to periods of retire- 
ment from the world. It is encouraged 
particularly by the League of the Sac- 
red Heart. The meditation offered fre- 
quently follows upon the thought pre- 
sented by the word-picture of the 
Apostles asleep, the Savior alone in 
His Agony, and the rebuke suggested 
by the words quoted above, "What, 
could you not watch one hour with 
Me?" 

The Sodality of the Blessed Virgin. 

The Christian world owes the Sodal- 
ity of the Blessed Virgin to the Society 
of Jesus. In the year 1563, this con- 
fraternity was organized, chiefly 
through the labors of Father John 
Lionius, a Jesuit connected with the 
Roman College. 

"With the object of emphasizing the 
advantages of prayer and praise of 



182 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



God and of the Immaculate Mother of 
Jesus, the first gathering of the Sodal- 
ity was effected under the patronage of 
the Blessed Virgin. Very soon there- 
after, the young society attracted the 
attention of the faithful everywhere. 
In 1594, the Sodality was approved 
ty Pope Gregory, who authorized the 
Jesuits to direct it wherever it would 
be established. 

An organization in the parish must 
Le registered with the Director-Gener- 
al of the Society of Jesus, since such 
action is indispensible to the securing 
of indulgences and privileges which 
have been granted by the Church. A 
branch of the Sodality may be known 
by any title of any feast of the Blessed 
"Virgin. 

Although the first organization was 
that of a band of men, the Sodality 
has been extended to young women, 
younger girls, and married women. St. 
Anne is the secondary patron saint 
of branches for the married women and 
St. Aloysius of branches for boys, 
while the younger girls, known as 
Children of Mary, have St. Agnes for 
their secondary patroness. 

Much practical work of unusual val- 
ue is done by the Men's Sodalities of 
Boston, who have a bureau for the 
spiritual welfare of sailors. A Sodal- 
ity of men in Cincinnati works among 
the poor in their homes, actively assist- 
ing the St. Vincent de Paul Society. 
The Men's Sodality of San Francisco 
promotes retreats, teaches the Chinese 
at night school, encourages attendance 
at Mass and frequent communion. A 
similar body at St. Mary's Church, 
Cleveland, visits the sick and otherwise 



assists the afflicted. Holy Family 
Church Men's Sodality, Chicago, visits 
the Juvenile Detention Home every 
Sunday and conducts entertainments 
there while assisting in instruction. 
Another Sodality teaches Catechism 
in the foreign districts. Still another 
cares for the deaf. 

In Buffalo, Toledo, Detroit, New 
York City, and elsewhere, the Sodal- 
ities are engaged in active practical 
work. 

The purely religious and devotional 
confraternities and sodalities dealt 
with at some length in this chapter are 
rot by any means the only ones sanc- 
tioned by the Church, however. The 
Catholic who wishes to lead a deeply 
devout life may be enrolled in the Con- 
fiaternity of the Rosary, of Our Lady 
of Mount Carmel, of the Pious Union 
of Genezzano (Our Lady of Good 
Counsel), of the tertiary of St. Francis 
or of St. Dominic, of the Most Holy 
Heart of Mary, or in any one of a 
number of pious associations estab- 
lished for the loving service of God 
and the loving veneration of His Bles- 
sed Virgin Mother. 

Societies of Catholic Men and 
Women. 

The wonderful organization of the 
Church has probably never given a 
stronger demonstration of its foresight 
and its power than in guiding the 
growth of the fraternal spirit among 
its members. "While other churches 
complain that to some extent fraternal- 
ism has weakened their hold upon the 
people, the great Catholic societies of 
mutual aid have only strengthened the 



CATHOLIC SOCIETIES. 



183 



ties which bind their members to the 
Church. 

It is a condition of good standing 
in these orders that each member shall 
faithfully perform all his Church 
duties. They number in their ranks 
priests, bishops, members of the hier- 
archy. The American Federation of 
Catholic Societies once announced an 
aggregate membership of more than 
2,000,000 adults. This was not complete. 
Nevertheless, as a compact and har- 
monious instrument for influencing 
and giving forcible expression to 
public opinion, there is nothing in the 
country to compare with the possibil- 
ities outlined in this federation. 

The Church forbids its people to join 
certain fraternities, on the ground that 
the secret vows and obligations which 
their members take might interfere 
with the obligations of the Church. 
Catholic societies restrict their mem- 
bership to those who first belong to the 
Church and they make practice of re- 
ligion the highest of their fraternal 
obligations. While thus narrowing 
their membership, the sympathies of 
the Catholic Societies are nevertheless 
very broad and their influence is po- 
tent. Proof of this is found in the 
fact that Thomas H. Cannon, head 
of the Catholic Order of Foresters, has 
served as president of the National 
Fraternal congress, composed of a ma- 
jority of the great fraternal orders 
of the country. 

Most of the Catholic orders do not 
date back farther than twenty-five or 
thirty years. First of them all was 
the Catholic Mutual Benefit Associa- 



tion, which was organized in 1876. 
It was followed by the Catholic 
Knights of America one year later, by 
the Western Catholic Union, and the 
Catholic Mutual Benefit Association of 
Canada. Since 1880 many more large 
societies have sprung up and a large 
fraternal movement is spreading among 
church people in every part of the 
country. 

The Catholic orders enjoy one unique 
advantage as compared with the 
other fraternal societies. When a new 
lodge is to be formed an organizer is 
accorded the co-operation of the local 
priest, who is usually glad to make 
the preliminary announcement. The 
church hall or parish house is used 
as a place of meeting. 

By way of recognizing this assist- 
ance, there is hardly a church in the 
country which does not contain a mem- 
orial window or some other handsome 
and costly monument of the gratitude 
of the great societies of mutual aid. 
And many a struggling parish school 
has been helped to permanence by the 
voluntary contributions of the lodges. 

One of the Largest Orders. 

Among the largest and most prom- 
inent of the Catholic fraternities is 
the Catholic Order of Foresters, one 
of the many great modern societies 
which in their names and ceremonies 
keep alive the memories of those an- 
cient days when men were free rangers 
of the woods and forests. The order 
was formed in Chicago in 1883, under 
a charter from the State of Illinois. 
The meeting for organization was held 
in the parish house of Holy Family 



184 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Church, with a Jesuit priest as chair- 
man. 

Today the order had more than 150,- 
000 members in the northern half of 
the United States and in Canada. It 
includes in its membership men of a 
dozen different nationalities. Its in- 
fluence has been strong in breaking 
down race prejudice and in bringing 
into one harmonious and united family 
people who, because of mutual ignor- 
ance and misunderstanding, might 
under other circumstances have re- 
mained separated and even hostile. In 
Chicago and in St. Paul there are 
courts made up entirely of colored 
people, while the province of Quebec 
boasts a local lodge every member of 
which is an Indian. 

In the forty years of its existence 
the order has paid out more than 
$20,000,000 in death and funeral bene- 
fits, while something like $4,000,000 
additional has been spent in sick bene- 
fits and other forms of voluntary re- 
lief. At present its annual expendi- 
tures for relief are more than two 
million dollars a year. Nearly 2,000 
branches of the order have also been 
liberal contributors to the many 
branches of the work of the Church. In 
Wisconsin, for instance, recent funds 
have gone towards the erection of a 
chapel for the use of Catholic students 
attending the state university at Mad- 
ison. 

The order also maintains an agency 
for securing employment for its mem- 
bers who may happen to be out of 
work. Athletic leagues, lyceums and 
literary bureaus are conducted by 



state organizations, and lectures and 
musical and literary entertainments 
are provided during the winter season 
to make interesting and valuable the 
meetings of the local courts. 

Local branches support beds in the 
various hospitals in Chicago and other 
cities, where indigent or unfortunate 
members may have the best of nursing 
and medical attention. They pay, also, 
sick benefits to members. 

In 1908 the Foresters celebrated the 
silver jubilee of the founding of their 
order with a great international con- 
vention in Chicago. More than 10,000 
delegates filled the Coliseum to listen 
to addresses by Archbishop Quigley, 
Bishop Muldoon, and a number of 
prominent laymen. The handsome 
souvenir program which was issued at 
that time contains letters of indorse- 
ment and congratulation from no less 
than fifteen bishops and archbishops of 
the Church in America, many of them 
being active members of the order. 

The Order has a Reserve Fund of 
$4,750,000.00, which, according to the 
Constitution, is invested exclusively in 
Government, State, Provincial, County 
and Municipal bonds of the United 
States and Canada. 

The High Court Officers are: 

Thos. H. Cannon, High Chief 
Ranger; Simeon Viger, Vice High 
Chief Ranger; Thomas F. McDonald, 
High Secretary; Gustave Keller, High 
Treasurer; Dr. J. P. Smyth, High 
Medical Examiner. 

The High Court Offices are in Chi- 
cago. The Order has most excellent 
letters of approval from members of 



CATHOLIC SOCIETIES. 



185 



the hierarchy in the United States and 
Canada. 

Associations of Irish Men and Women 
in America. 

By JOHN O 'DBA, 
National Historian A. 0. H. 

In the social organization of no na- 
tion of antiquity were societies of 
greater influence than in pagan Ire- 
land. During many centuries these 
societies, composed of the "bards," 
"Ollamhs", "Brehons", "Druids", 
and "Knights", contended for preced- 
ence. In no country did the literary 
societies display greater vigor and ex- 
ercise a more beneficent power than in 
pagan Ireland. These societies existed 
from the earliest times until after the 
coming of St. Patrick. Traces of them 
are visible during all the centuries 
from the conversion of Ireland down 
to the Anglo-Norman epoch, and it is 
apparent that the clan system and the 
introduction of the feudal system by 
the English failed to eliminate com- 
pletely their influence. 

When Irish emigration flowed to- 
wards America, in the eighteenth cen- 
tury, the social instinct early found 
expression in societies. One of 
the earliest of these was founded in 
Boston, where in 1737, twenty-six 
gentlemen, merchants and others, na- 
tives of Ireland or of Irish extraction, 
organized the Charitable Irish Society. 
In Pennsylvania, where the Irish emi- 
gration had been larger than in any 
other colony, the Hibernian Fire Com- 
pany was organized in 1751. The 



Friendly Sons of St. Patrick was 
founded in Philadelphia in 1771, and 
about that time societies bearing this 
name were founded in Boston and 
New York, as convivial clubs welcom- 
ing Irish emigrants to their festive 
boards. These societies were formed 
upon the model of the Friendly Broth- 
ers of St. Patrick, which had existed 
in Dublin and other Irish cities a gen- 
eration before, and was well and favor- 
ably known throughout Ireland. 

The Society of the Friendly Sons of 
St. Patrick in Philadelphia contained 
some of the most prominent merchants 
and leading citizens of the clay, and 
in 1780 they subscribed $103,000, one- 
third of the sum collected, to supply 
the Continental Army with food. 
Among its members were Commodore 
Barry, the Father of the American 
Navy; General Stephen Moylan, Gen- 
eral Anthony "Wayne, and the great 
merchants, Blair McClenachan, Thomas 
Fitzsimmons and Robert Morris. Wash- 
ington, who was an honorary member, 
described it as "a society distinguished 
for the firm adherence of its members 
to the glorious cause- in which we are 
embarked. ' ' Whether upon the field or 
upon the sea, in council or in sacrifice 
of their wealth, their names are fore- 
most in the crisis of the Revolution. 

The Hibernian Society for the Re- 
lief of Emigrants from Ireland was 
founded in Philadelphia on March 3rd, 
1790. Other Hibernian Societies, with 
the same title and organized for the 
same purpose, were founded in other 
cities along the Atlantic coast in the 
early years of the nineteenth century, 
but the Philadelphia Hibernian Society 



186 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



was, from the character of its members, 
the extent of its beneficence, and the 
length of its existence, the most famous. 
The emigrants from Ireland during 
the eighteenth century had pushed on 
to the frontier, or, in some instances, 
remained in the cities and engaged 
successfully in mercantile pursuits. 
The emigration which came after the 
Revolution was, however, in great part 
composed of families almost without 
means. Unable to subsist while clear- 
ing farms in the virgin forest, thous- 
ands were congested in the cities. The 
Hibernian Society extended a ready 
and strong hand to these helpless peo- 
ple, and not only aided the emigrants 
with gifts of money, but also secured 
for them employment, disseminated 
among them useful information, and 
provided them with medical attend- 
ance. While the Hibernian Society was 
regarded as the successor of the Friend- 
ly Sons of St. Patrick, yet the two 
societies, which contained largely a 
membership roll bearing the same 
names, flourished, in the work of patri- 
otism, side by side. The first officers 
of the Hibernian Society for the re- 
lief of emigrants from Ireland were : 
President, Chief Justice Thomas Mc- 
Kean; Vice President, General Walter 
Stewart; Cecretary, Matthew Carey; 
Historian-Treasurer, John Taylor, 
It was said that no other society in 
America contained so many men dis- 
tinguished in civil, military and official 
life as the Hibernian Society. In al- 
most every city where the Friendly 
Sons of St. Patrick and the Hibernian 
Society for the Relief of Emigrants 
were found, there was a close and in- 



timate connection between them, which 
ultimately resulted in amalgamation. 

In 1836 a charter was received by 
members of the Hibernian Funeral So- 
ciety, in New York City and in 
Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania. The 
headquarters were for some years in 
Pennslyvania, but in 1851 a charter 
was granted to the New York Divi- 
sions under the name of "The Ancient 
Order of Hibernians." New York thus 
became the American headquarters. 
National conventions were held there 
until 1878, since which year they have 
been held in many other cities biennial- 
ly. Many of the most distinguished 
leaders of the Irish race in America 
have been members of the Order, and 
from an humble beginning, with a few 
emigrants gathered together in a 
strange land, the membership has 
grown to nearly 200,000. General 
Thomas Francis Meagher, Colonel 
Michael Doheny, General Michael Cor- 
coran, and Colonel John O'Mahony 
were members in the late '50s. 

Among the organizations which have 
sprung from the ranks of the A. O. H. 
were the powerful Fenian Brother- 
hood, the Emmet Monument Associa- 
tion, the Emerald Benefit Association, 
the Irish Catholic Benevolent Union, 
and scores of smaller associations in 
all sections of the United States and 
Canada. During the Know Nothing 
riots the Order furnished armed de- 
fenders for the churches in New York, 
Philadelphia and Charleston, and it has 
ever been foremost in preserving its 
position as the hereditary defender of 
the Faith. In 1894 the Ladies' Aux- 
iliary was founded, and this body of 



CATHOLIC SOCIETIES. 



187 



women numbered in 1922 over 70,000, 
and had donated great sums to charity, 
education and religion. The A. 0. H. 
had, in 1922, assets of $2,500,000. It 
pays annually for charity, sick and 
death benefits and maintenance, over 
$1,000,000 and during its existence in 
America has donated nearly $20,000,- 
000 to works of beneficence. One of 
the most celebrated of the gifts of the 
Order was the endowment of the Chair 
of Celtic in the Catholic University of 
America, and one of its greatest gifts 
was its contribution of $40,000 to the 
sufferers from the San Francisico 
earthquake. 

The above sketch appears in "Glor- 
ies of Ireland" by Drs. Dunn and 
Lennox of the Catholic University at 
"Washington. It is reprinted with Mr. 
O'Dea's permission. 

National officers of the Ancient Or- 
der of Hibernians are : 

Eight Rev. Michael J. Gallagher, 
National Chaplain, Detroit, Mich. ; 
James E. Deery, National President, 
Peoples Bank Building, Indianapolis, 
Ind. ; Richard Dwyer, National Vice 
President, 923 Broadway, South Bos- 
ton, Mass. ; Patrick Keane, Canadian 
Vice President, 79 St. Famille St., 
Montreal, Canada; John O'Dea, Na- 
tional Secretary, 1344 Colwyn St., Phil- 
adelphia, Pa. ; John Sheehy, National 
Treasurer, Montgomery, Minn. 

National Directors — Jos. McLaugh- 
lin, Past National President, Philadel- 
phia, Pa. ; John S. McCarthy, New 
Haven, Conn.; John T. Doyle, Balti- 
more, Md. ; M. "W. Delaney, Chicago, 



111.; M. L. Sweeney, Cleveland, Ohio; 
Patrick J. Murphy, Detroit, Mich. 

In the days of stress in Europe and 
after the War an association called the 
Friends of Irish Freedom came into 
being and enrolled large numbers of 
members who aided very materially 
their friends and relatives across the 
sea. The Right Rev. M. J. Gallagher, 
D. D., Bishop of Detroit, was a na- 
tional officer of great influence. 

In the summer of 1920 the Associa- 
tion for the Recognition of the Irish 
Republic sprang into being. Notably 
in Chicago this association was most 
active and energetic in its self-sacri- 
ficing devotion to the cause, which a 
short time after terminated in a settle- 
ment with the British government 
which in time seemed certain to lead 
towards the culmination of the na- 
tional desire. 

The Rev. Wm. F. Cahill was State 
President of the A. A. R. I. R., which 
in Illinois had over 200 branches and 
more than 200,000 members. A notable 
achievement was the aid rendered by 
the Celtic Cross Relief Society under 
leadership of Mrs. Mary MacWhorter. 

Distrikt Verband. 

The Chicago Distrikt Verband was 
organized in 1899 with the Right 
Reverend Monsignor Thiele as Modera- 
tor. The Society's objects are to bring 
into close unity the German Catholic 
men's societies, to further in union 
all Catholic interests, to defend rights 
guaranteed by the Constitution and 
to guard against impending dangers 
to religion. 

At the convention of the Catholic 



188 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Union of Illinois in 1900, the Chicago 
Distrikt Verband presented a strong 
protest against reported mistreatment 
of the clergy in the Philippines. Dis- 
crimination in distribution of free text 
books was a later protest. Many 
other instances of helpful public in- 
terest could be given, especially of aid 
in local affairs. The Catholic Free 
Employment Bureau is a feature, es- 
tablished in 1915. 

Prominent workers are the Rev. "Wm. 
H. Dettmer, Peter J. Barth, Henry 
Franzen, N. J. Kluetsch, John A. 
Mayer, H. Dederichs, J. F. Henrichs, 
Theodore Nebel. 

Katholischer Vereinbund. 

This organization has for its main 
purpose a union of German Catholic 
men's societies, the Catholic "Women's 
section of the Frauenbund and the 
Catholic Young Men's section of the 
Gonzaga Union of the State. It is 
designed to bring these societies to- 
gether to further the interests of the 
Church, to guard from error, to de- 
velop Catholic life and to promote 
social reform as outlined by Pope Leo 
XIII. 

The organization has a Legislative 
Committee which guards against inim- 
ical intrusion of dangers through legis- 
lative enactment. The Central Bur- 
eau of the Central Verein acts as ad- 
visory board on varied public ac- 
tivities. 

Prominent in this body are Michael 
"Walsdorf and George J. Stoecker. 

Polish Catholic Societies. 

Polish Catholic societies exist in 
every parish. Protection of religion, 



patriotism and brotherly love are the 
chief objects. Mutual aid is a big 
feature. Most societies are affiliated 
with the Polish Roman Catholic Union, 
which is the largest Polish Catholic 
body in this country. 

The Polish Roman Catholic Union 
was organized in 1873, incorporated 
as it now stands, in 1887. Moving 
spirits were the late Rev. Vincent 
Barzynski and the late Peter Kiolbassa. 
Fraternal insurance includes, besides 
death benefits, aid to disabled members. 
Financial aid is given indigent stu- 
dents. The Society has over 100,000 
members. It has its own paper, the 
Polish National. Its assets in 1920 
amounted to nearly three million dol- 
lars. The Rt. Rev. P. P. Rhode, D. D., 
Bishop of Green Bay, is Honorary 
Chaplain. N. L. Piotrowski was 
President. 

The Polish Alma Mater is another 
Catholic society of prominence, organ- 
ized in 1898, on somewhat similar lines 
and for the same objects. The Very 
Rev. Francis Gordon, C. R., was among 
the founders. He is now the Modera- 
tor. 

American Federation of Catholic 
Societies. 

The American Federation of Catho- 
lic Societies is an organization of Cath- 
olics in the United States for the pur- 
pose of advancing their civil, social 
and religious interests. 

It is not a political organization, and 
does not control the political affiliation 
of its members; it asks no favors or 
privileges, but openly proclaims what 
is just and fair. 

It aims at the creation of sound pub- 



CATHOLIC SOCIETIES. 



189 



lie opinion on all important topics of 
the day; it stands for the Christian life 
of the nation itself, for the proper ob- 
servance of Sunday; for the Christian 
education of youth ; for the stamping 
out of immorality for the sanctity and 
perpetuity of Christian marriage ; for 
the safeguarding of the Christian 
home. 

It asserts the necessity of Christian 
principles in social and public life, in 
the State, in business, in all financial 
and industrial relations. 

It combats all errors which are in 
opposition to Christianity and threaten 
to undermine the very foundation of 
human society. 

It is willing to cooperate with all 
loyal citizens and with all civil and 
social energies which work for truth 
and virtue. 

It exposes falsehood and injustice, 
whether in misrepresentation or his- 
tory, doctrine, or principles of moral- 
ity. 

The aims of federation, therefore, 
are religious and patriotic; they are 
the interest of all American citizens, 
and especially of those who believe in 
a Divine Law-giver and in the revela- 
tion of a divine religion through Christ 
our Savior. 

The Federation has its headquarters 
in Chicago. Sir Anthony Matre, K. S. 
G., is national secretary. 

The Knights of Columbus. 

By DANIEL COLWELL 
Charter member and Historian of the 
Order. 

The Knights of Columbus was estab- 
lished in the City of New Haven, 



County of New Haven, State of Con- 
necticut, on Feb. 2nd, 1882, and was 
incorporated by an act of the general 
assembly of that state on March 29th 
cf the same year. 

The Order was established by the 
Rev. Michael J. McGivney, Daniel Col- 
well, James T. Mullen, Cornelius T. 
Driscoll, Dr. M. C. O'Connor, William 
M. Geary, John Tracy, Michael E. 
Tracy, John T. Kerrigan, P. H. Cos- 
grove, Michael Curran, Rev. P. P. Law- 
ler, Patrick Madden, J. T. McMahon 
and William H. Sellwood. 

In the fall of 1881, a local society 
known as "St. Joseph's Young Men 
of New Haven," and of which Father 
McGivney was chaplain desired to join 
an association of national extent. 

Father McGivney saw the need of 
a strong alliance of effort and purpose 
among Catholic men. He took up the 
work with characteristic energy and 
earnestness. 

On January 16, 1882, a meeting to 
advance the cause was held at 157 
Church street, New Haven, Conn. Those 
in attendance were : Rev. M. J. Mc- 
Givney, James T. Mullen, Daniel Col- 
well, John Tracy, Michael Tracy, Wm. 
H. Geary, C. T. Driscoll, J. T. Kerri- 
gan, James T. McMahon and Wm. H. 
Sellwood. Michael E. Tracy was called 
upon to preside. The subject of the 
establishment of a protective fraternal 
order was fully discussed, the success 
of other organizations pointed out. 
Father McGivney was authorized to 
look over the field and report. 

One week later the second meeting 
was called to order by James T. Mullen 



190 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



and William M. Geary was chosen sec- 
retary pro tern. The first business trans- 
action was a verbal report from Father 
McGivney. It was unanimously decided 
that a new, independent, original 
organization be established. A Con- 
mittee on permanent organization was 
at once oppointed, and consisted of 
Father McGivney, James T. Mullen, 
John T. Kerrigan and J. T. McMahon. 
A lengthly discussion followed upon 
the adoption of a name for the new 
society. Temporarily it was called, 
"The Connecticut Catholic Order of 
Foresters. ' ' 

It was voted to reach out into the 
the fraternal field upon higher and 
broader lines than any then prevailing, 
and that an original organization be 
perfected, whose scope and action 
should not be confined or limited to 
any particular set of society ethics or 
rules, or their written laws, but in 
the constructive work before them to 
avail of the commendable features of 
the best, and thereupon build a broad 
and lasting foundation. 

Name of the Society. 

The main subject for consideration 
at the third meeting was the selection 
of a name for the organization. In 
discussing this important matter, 
Father McGivney pointed out in a 
short address the necessity of a judi- 
cious selection, and offered as such 
"Sons of Columbus," indicating in the 
title the American Catholic character of 
the society. James T. Mullen followed 
the Reverend Father, and in a most 
forceful argument practically settled 
the matter and, to a large extent, the 



future of the organization. He amended 
the suggestion of Father McGivney 
by substituting the word "Knights" 
for "Sons" and that the name be 
"Knights of Columbus." 

The Ritual. 

The precipitation of the subject of 
a ceremonial was held to be of so much 
importance, demanding most serious 
consideration, that the selection of a 
name was by consent temporarily 
tabled. 

Mr. Mullen's ideas on ceremonial so 
clearly and sincerely expressed, pro- 
duced a profound impression, and were 
heartily approved by all present, and 
it was voted that a ceremonial on the 
lines of Mr. Mullen's suggestion be 
adopted, provided that such would be 
acceptable to the authorities of the 
Church. It is gratifying to note that 
the proposition was acceptable to the 
Bishop, provided that when the cere- 
monials were prepared they should be 
submitted to him. 

The meeting resumed consideration 
of the matter of name for the new 
society, and it was unanimously voted 
that as a name "Knights of Columbus" 
be adopted. 

The Knights of Columbus is the 
first fraternal insurance organization 
of a national character ever incorpor- 
ated by the General Assembly of Con- 
necticut. 

The institution is today in every 
sense an ideal organization. The best 
men of our faith are among its most 
enthusiastic workers. Its present field 
of operation is America, Canada, New- 



CATHOLIC SOCIETIES. 



191 



foundland, Alaska, Mexico, Cuba, 
Porto Rico and the Philippine Islands. 

The Society renders pecuniary aid 
to its members, and the beneficiaries of 
members entirely free from possibility 
of attachment or execution of any 
kind. It is paid directly to the bene- 
ficiary. The Society renders mutual 
aid and assistance to its sick and dis- 
abled members. It promotes mutual 
aid and assistance to social and intel- 
lectual intercourse among its members 
in every way possible. 

Knights of Columbus Defenders of 
Faith. 

The story of the activities of the 
Knights of Columbus in defence of 
their Faith is a story as old as the 
organization itself. In any way that 
suggests itself the Knights are active, 
either as individuals, as respective 
Councils or by Commission of the 
Order itself. Many an old lie, re- 
vamped and directed against the 
Church or its institutions has been 
refuted by this constant watch- 
fulness. Thousands of dollars have 
been spent in the campaign for 
truth and the Order stands ready 
to make even greater sacrifices in the 
defence of the mother Church. The 
story of the contribution to the Catho- 
lic University at Washington is but one 
feature of the order's activities. The 
matter of scholarships arranged in va- 
rious Catholic Colleges, free to com- 
petitive examinations among members 
and even non-members of the Order, is 
another step in the advancement of 
Catholic lay activity in the cause of 
higher education. The purchase of 



whole editions of standard Catholic 
works and the consequent distribution 
among the hundreds of thousands of 
members, with the suggestion that such 
books be used where possible as instruc- 
tion for enquiring non-Catholics, is a 
work in itself the achievement of 
a century. The assistance given 
to the publishers of the Catho- 
lic Encyclopedia was a master- 
stroke, and the distribution of 
this work among members, with in- 
dividual assistance in further distri- 
bution among friends, in town and city 
libraries also, stands to the credit of 
the Order. Such efforts, too numerous 
to even outline, at least give some idea 
of the various activities which mark 
the Order's desire to assist the work 
of religion. 

More extensive particulars are to be 
found elsewhere concerning special in- 
stances of defensive work. The work 
of the Commission on Religious Pre- 
judice is to be found in Chapter 13, 
part I. Refuting the absurd charge 
of a "K. of C. Oath" will be found in 
Chapter 14. K. of C. War Activities 
will be found in Chapter 2. 

Social Work of the Order. 

Among activities which are designed 
for the recreation of members are in- 
cluded many which interest outside 
friends, as well. Social evenings are 
the rule everywhere, and in localities 
where a permanent home is possible, 
there are events which mark time in 
the social world. In other respects the 
Order stands out prominently. In 
sources of activity which only remotely 
concern members there is an evident 



192 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



desire to help. Redemption work in 
large cities finds K. of C. men espe- 
cially active. The derelicts of the float- 
ing population receive their share of 
attention but if there can be said to 
be any shade of difference it rather 
favors the little ones among the afflic- 
ted. Following the example of St. Vin- 
cent de Paul these modern Knights 
reach out to find the suffering and the 
homeless, ever ready and willing to 
assist. The boy who so easily locates 
trouble on the streets of a large city 
finds in the Order a friend in need. 
The "Big Brother" movement which 
finds adherents in congested places 
where the need is known finds no more 
warm-hearted supporter than among 
the Knights. Members are interested in 
new legislation to remove the difficul- 
ties, the case is properly presented to 
the judge and jail conditions are made 
bearable. 

Of the activities of the Order for the 
betterment of members too much can- 
not be said. The Home-Finding Asso- 
ciation is but one of many forms. Em- 
ployment Bureaus are the rule in all 
large towns and cities. Entertainment 
bureaus conduct pleasure plans for 



Churches and brother Councils. Re- 
lief work where necessary is arranged, 
assistance rendered to the widow and 
children of deceased members, recep- 
tion of friendly visitors with entertain- 
ment, assistance to parishes and 
schools, to Catholic papers and maga 
zines, all form only an idea of the mani- 
fold activities of an Order so truly 
American in spirit and so typically 
American in growth and so beautifully 
Catholic in tone. 

Columbus Day. 

It is to the credit of the Order that 
official recognition has been given to 
Columbus Day, October 12th, as a le- 
gal holiday. Those who delight to hon- 
or the great discoverer have been in- 
defatigable in their efforts to spread 
proper appreciation of our national 
hero. 

At first, state action was slow and 
discouraging ; yet, after a time fifteen 
states were enrolled. Then followed a 
period of renewed interest and the 
number jumped to thirty-three. In- 
crease has continued and today there 
is something peculiarly American in 
almost universal observance of Colum- 
bus Day and all that it implies. 



Women Conduct Great Organization 



That Catholic women are leaders, in 
the great movement for mutual aid 
and protection and in showing 
feminine capacity for organiza- 
tion and business administration, 
is well illustrated in the career 
of many associations. There are 
numbers of mutual aid societies 



composed entirely of women. All are 
successful, unusually so. It is splen- 
did proof of executive ability. 

Four fraternal orders alone have a 
total membership of nearly a million. 
Others bring the aggregate to upward 
of 1,500,000. Taken together in rough 
estimate, they have to their credit 



CATHOLIC SOCIETIES. 



193 



the tremendous sum of $170,000,- 
000 paid out in benefits and in 
various forms of mutual relief. 
Every year they distribute be- 
tween $8,000,000 and $11,000,000 
among their members in direct bene- 
fits. The amount raised annually as 
contributions to Church charities, for 
voluntary relief among their members 
for missions at home and abroad and 
as endowments for educational and 
other institutions adds a large but un- 
counted sum to this total. 

As a moral and educational force, 
the women's fraternities have made 
their influence felt very strongly. They 
are very closely organized. In a na- 
tional organization, the National 
Council of Catholic women, they have 
an instrument for voicing with author- 
ity the unanimous opinion of their total 
membership. Here they have enrolled 
themselves solidly in opposition to so- 
cialism. They have under way a move- 
ment for reform of lax divorce laws. 

The safe-guarding of recently ar- 
rived emigrants, the question of reli- 
gion in the schools, better observance 
of Sunday, support of the Catho- 
lic University of America, and 
the installation of a proper pro- 
portion of Catholic literature in 
public libraries are some of the other 
important matters on which both wo- 
men and men's societies have acted and 
are now making their influence felt. 

The Women's Catholic Order of 
Foresters. 

By MARY L. DOWNES, 
High Chief Ranger 
Early in the year 1891, a little band 



of Catholic women members of Holy 
Family parish in Chicago, conceived 
the idea of forming a Society wherein 
as Sisters in the Faith they might 
unite for the protection of their homes 
and their families. 

The task was guided and encouraged 
by their Pastor, the Rev. Edwin Kelly, 
S. J. All labored so zealously and 
earnestly that the foundation of the 
Women's Catholic Order of Foresters 
was laid and its work in behalf of 
Catholic fraternal insurance launched. 

The Society was organized with the 
approval of his Grace, Archbishop P. 
Feehan, D. D., who honored the organ- 
ization as its first High Court Chap- 
lain, followed in this respect by his 
successor, the Most Reverend J ames 
Edward Quigley, D. D. " Our present 
highly esteemed Archbishop, Mo-st 
Reverend George W. Mundelein, D. 
D., has further honored the Women's 
Catholic Order of Foresters as its 
third High Court Chaplain. 

The Women's Catholic Order of 
Foresters with its present membership 
of 78,000 and with gross assets of over 
$4,000,000, now extends throughout the 
United States and Canada, steadfastly 
increasing in membership and spread- 
ing the doctrine of Catholic fraternal 
insurance to very parish and hamlet. 

The first High Chief Ranger of the 
Women's Catholic Order of Foresters 
was Mrs. Elizabeth Rodgers, who di- 
rected the destinies of the Order from 
the date of its inception until August 
1908, when she was succeeded by Mrs. 
Rose D. Rittman. 

During Mrs. Rittman 's administra- 
tion as High Chief Ranger and under 



194 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



her able direction the Order most suc- 
cessfully passed through that crucial 
period of its existence — the rerating of 
its membership, thereby adjusting its 
method of assessment from the level 
to the graded plan and placing itself 
among the foremost fraternal insur- 
ance societies of the National Fraternal 
Congress of America. 

On May 3 1919, Mrs. Rittman, be- 
cause of ill health, resigned as High 
Chief Ranger, and was succeeded by 
Miss Mary L. Downes, who had been 
the High Vice Chief Ranger and the 
Chairman of the Organization Depart- 
ment. 

Miss Downes is ably assisted in the 
administration of the work of the Order 
by Miss Ella J. Lorden, High Vice 
Chief Ranger, Miss Anna E. Phelan, 
High Secretary, Mrs. Margaret Die- 
drich, High Treasurer, Dr. Katherine 
W. Corcoran, High Medical Examiner, 
and by seven High Trustees, Mesdames 
Rebecca Gallagher, Anna Korezeniew- 
ski, and Margaret Filip of Chicago, 
Mary Quirk of Milwaukee, Wis., Mar- 
garet MeMahon of Detroit, Michigan, 
Fannie Miller of Minneapolis, Minn., 
and Josephine Desmarais of Richmond, 
Canada. 

The "Women's Catholic Order of For- 
esters has by voluntary contribution 
donated almost $15,000 to the Catholic 
Church Extension Society, thus aiding 
materially in the building of Mission 
Chapels and Schools and rendering as- 
sistance to other noble and charitable 
works of "Extension." 

The Order conducts a Club on the 
tenth floor of the Venetian Building 
for working girls in the loop district 



of Chicago, where luncheons and sup- 
pers are served at a minimum cost. 
Well appointed rest and recreational 
rooms are an attractive feature and 
provision is made for the entertain- 
ment and educational advancement of 
the members. 

Throughout the Order immeasurable 
service was tendered the Red Cross and 
there can be no conception of the vast 
amount of wearing apparel and other 
supplies knitted and made by members 
for soldiers and sailors in the service. 

The membership of the Order also 
responded most generously to the patri- 
otic fund of the Knights of Columbus, 
and by their contribution of almost 
$11,000, did their bit in assisting the 
noble Knights to carry out their im- 
mortal slogan ' ' Everybody Welcome ! 
Everything Free ! ' ' 

In all its great work, its varied activ- 
ities and huge responsibilities, the Wo- 
men's Catholic Order of Foresters con- 
tinues to remember its deceased sisters 
and chaplains, by setting aside a day 
in the month of November of every 
year — Memorial Day, when each of the 
eleven hundred and more subordinate 
courts of the Order has the Holy Sacri- 
fice of the Mass offered for the happy 
repose of the Soids of these departed 
ones, thus testifying that as they loved 
each other in life they are not for- 
gotten in death. 

The Ladies' Catholic Benevolent 
Association. 

By MRS. J. A. ROYER, 
Supreme Recorder. 
In April 1890, the first organization 
of the Ladies Catholic Benevolent As- 



CATHOLIC SOCIETIES. 



195 



soeiation was effected. In 1915, the 
silver jubilee of the order, and since, 
this pioneer organization of fraternal 
insurance for women shows a steady 
consistent growth, opening up new 
fields of effort and endeavor. Woman 
has provided her capability in handling 
business affairs, meeting problems of 
unthought magnitude. It is a record 
of lives made brighter and happier 
by this association of Catholic women 
through the amount of insurance paid 
cut in individual cases — -a record ever 
on the increase. 

One L. C. B. A. annual report shows 
140,000 members, with more than 1200 
branches in 28 of the United States, 
and in Canada. There were 25 new 
branches instituted in one year, and 
ever 10,000 new members were initiated 
in that period. Over twelve million 
dollars have been paid in 1914 to the 
families of deceased members. Of the 
Reserve Fund in 1922, out of a total of 
$6,250,000, $3,058,500 is invested in 
bonds and $1,105,705 in Church mort- 
gages; of the last amount, $165,000 
was invested in Chicago Archdiocese. 

National Officers are : 

Supreme Spiritual Advisor — Rt. 
Rev. Edmund F. Gibbons, Albany, N. 
Y. ; Supreme Senator — Mrs. F. M. 
Mayer, Philadelphia, Pa. ; Supreme 
Past President — Mrs. Elizabeth B. Mc- 
Gowan, Atlantic City, N. J. ; Supreme 
President — Miss Kate Mahoney, Troy, 
N. Y. ; Supreme First Vice President — 
Mrs. Mary C. Connelly, Syracuse, N. 
Y. ; Supreme Second Vice President — 
Miss Frances E. McGee, Scranton, Pa. ; 
Supreme Recorder — Mrs. J. A. Royer, 
Erie, Pa.; Supreme Treasurer — Mrs. 



Mary E. Costelloe, Rockaway Park, N. 
Y. 

The L. C. B. A. conducts "The Fra- 
ternal Leader'', as the official organ, 
with Mrs. Julia A. Clingen as pub- 
lisher, Oak Park, 111. 

Ladies' Auxiliary, Ancient Order 
of Hibernians. 

The Ladies Auxiliary of the Ancient 
Order of Hibernians was established 
in Omaha, Nebraska, May 1894 and 
now numbers more than ninety thou- 
sand members. Full power to elect na- 
tional officers and to conduct affairs 
came at a national convention in 1906. 

Many are the fields of endeavor in 
which members found activities. War 
work found an outlet. Red Cross work, 
sale of Liberty Bonds, Saving Stamps 
were but a few features added to the 
sacrifice of son, husband or father made 
by members to U. S. war service. Later 
came devoted attention to relief for 
Ireland in her stress. 

In national endeavor there has been 
establishment of a chair for higher edu- 
cation of women at Trinity College, 
Washington. In a hallowed spot near 
Washington will arise a monument to 
the memory of the sisters in war ser- 
vice, in the Civil and Spanish wars, 
tribute of the Auxiliary to the 
"Angels of the Battlefields." 

Church extension work found the 
order a generous donor. Chaplains in 
war service knew their beneficence in 
aid to the "Mass Outfits" fund. A 
scholarship to the Quigley Preparatory 
Seminary followed. 

The best type of American mother- 



196 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



hood comprises the membership which 
has fostered interest in the home land 
by establishing scholarships and 
otherwise encouraging study of Irish 
history and literature. 

Prominent individuals in the order 
were Mrs. Mary McWhorter, Mrs. 
Anna E. Johnson, Mrs. Rose Mulhol- 
land, Mrs. Anna M. Condon, Mrs. 
Winifred Walsh, Miss Kate Meade, 
Mrs. E. Qualy, Miss A. Delany, Mrs. 
A. Carron, Mrs. A. Ryan, Rev. F. L. 
Reynolds, Chaplain. 

The Catholic Woman's League. 

The Catholic Woman's League was 
organized in May 1898. Departments 
of philanthrophy, education, art, litera- 
ture, the home and its needs, each with 
its set of officers, care for many fea- 
tures of benefit to members. Lectures, 
courses in study, demonstration class- 
es are all used. 

Social work forms a big feature of 
the League's activities. Nurseries and 
kindergartens, relief, employment bur- 
eaus and free dispensaries were among 
its establishments. Physicians, nurses 
and trained workers are in attendance. 

In the settlements, clubs are formed 
for boys and girls, household service, 
service and kitchen garden classes are 
arranged for mothers. 

The Protectorate, established in 1911, 
for the care and protection of young 
girls, safeguards the lives of resi- 
dent as well as traveling young ladies. 

St. Elizabeths Business Women's 
Club was established in 1916. It af- 
fords a comfortable, pleasant home at 
reasonable rates with splendid privil- 



eges for young women in business or in 
study. 

Vacation schools in art and literature 
are arranged. Other features are men- 
tioned elsewhere in social consideration. 

Prominent workers in 1921 were Mrs. 
John W. Trainor, Mrs. M. Benner, Mrs. 
M. Creighton, Mrs. A. Flanagan, Mrs. 
0. T. Cody, Mrs. M. Frank Ryan, Miss 
Olive B. Hackett, and Mrs. Geo. Byrne, 
Mrs. Thos. Burns, Mrs. C. Flanagan, 
Mrs. J. L. Reilly, Mrs. T. Cressy and 
Mrs. C. 'Shaughnessy. 

National Order Daughters of 
Isabella. 

This Society of Catholic Women was 
formed by articles of incorporation re- 
ceived in Utica, N. Y. about 1903. It 
was designed to promote social and in- 
tellectual standing and for mutual ben- 
efit generally. Miss Mary McKernan, 
Utica, was First Supreme Regent. In 
1920 the order claimed membership in 
every state in the union with a total 
of more than 100,000 in over 600 
courts. Chicago has thirteen courts 
and 2,500 members. 

Ladies of Isabella. 

This body of Catholic women organ- 
ized in Chicago, securing a charter in 
1912, for mutual aid, promotion of so- 
cial and intellectual standing, render- 
ing aid to poor and needy. Yet these 
are only a few of the outstanding aims 
of the order. A welfare department 
for the soldiers and sailors was espec- 
ially active during the war with head- 
quarters in the business section of the 
city. The customary war activities of 



CATHOLIC SOCIETIES. 



197 



women received decided impetus. Aid 
and comfort to the orphans at Christ- 
mas also stands out in the society's 
activities. Pioneers of the order are 
Victoria Warnesson, Rhona Flynn, 
Belle V. Casey, Jule Warneson and 
Lilah McManus. 

National Circle, Daughters of 
Isabella. 

This organization began with its first 
circle in New Haven, in May 1897. 
They were then called Daughters of 
Isabella, being incorporated in 1904 
under that name. The order has stead- 
ily grown throughout the country. It 
encourages social and intellectual in- 
tercourse for members' aid for dis- 
tressed sisters and works of charity 
wherever found. 

The National Officers at present are : 

National Regent, Mrs. Mary E. 
Booth, 138 York street, New Haven, 
Conn.; National Vice Regent, Mrs. 
Minerva Boyd, 1131 N. Monticello ave- 
enue, Chicago, 111. ; National Secretary, 
Mrs. Mary E. Kay, 433 Poplar street, 
New Haven, Conn. 

There are in Chicago at present the 
following circles: Calumet, St. Pat- 
rick's, Auburn, La Rabida, Santa Ma- 
ria, San Salvador, Isabella, General 
Sherman, St. Brendan's, St. Clement's, 
Columbanus, Fort Dearborn, St. Rita's 
St. Bernadine 's, Marquette, Washing- 
ton, Columbus, and St. Sabina's. 
These circles are under the direct su- 
pervision of Mrs. Ellen M. Lemm, De- 
puty State Regent of Illinois. Mrs. 



Lemm's office is located at 7749 S. 
Peoria street, Chicago, Illinois. 

The Catholic Daughters of America. 

The Catholic Daughter of America 
were organized under the name "Na- 
tional Order Daughters of Isabella," 
and incorporated under this name in 
June 1903. Later the name was 
changed to avoid misunderstanding 
with other associations. 

This society has a membership of 
over 90,000 with six hundred branches 
in forty-five states. The aims are to 
parallel among Catholic women the 
work done by the K. of C. among men, 
to spread fraternity, to aid religion, to 
promote charitable work. 

Mrs. Genevieve H. Walsh, New York, 
is Supreme Regent, with national head- 
quarters at Utica, N. Y. 

Catholic Knights of America. 

The Catholic Knights and Ladies of 
America is an insurance body for men 
and women, organized in 1877. Its 
headquarters are in St. Louis. 

Since its inauguration over twenty 
three million dollars have been paid to 
beneficiaries of deceased members. 
Old age and disability benefits and 
other special features are added to the 
standard insurance protection. The 
society has branches in 30 states of the 
union and continues its progressive 
program. 

Central Society. 

The Catholic Central Society has its 
headquarters in St. Louis. The soci- 
ety has two affiliations, the Women's 
League and the Gonzaga Union. 

The aims of the society are to as- 
sist in helpfulness in many lines 



198 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



of social and industrial endeavor. 
Courses of study are given members. 
Literature of various kinds is printed 
and circulated in large quantities, 
either free or at cost. A press bureau 
is maintained. 

Perhaps the most notable of the 
society's achievements is progress 
made in defense against harmful na- 
tional and state legislation. Recently 
a strong stand has been taken against 
centralization of government and 
bureaucracy. 

The organization is generous in its 
endowments of various activities. Some 
of the best minds of the country be- 
long to it and their efforts are given 
cheerfully to the unselfish aims of the 
society. 

Prominent in the general activities 
of the society are : M. F. Girten, Chi- 
cago ; Chas. Korg, New York; Henry 
Seyfried, Indianapolis; Henry An- 
dries, Detroit; F. J. Dockendorff, 
Milwaukee; Rev. S. P. Hoffman, Ef- 
fingham, 111.; Mrs. A. Springob, Mil- 
waukee. 

Knights of St. John. 

The excellent work and the remark- 
able development of the Knights of 



St. John and their "Ladies' Auxil- 
iary" was splendidly demonstrated at 
their annual convention held in 
Cleveland in 1922. 

Five thousand Knights paraded 
through the streets, in full uniform. 
In the evening a civic reception was 
tendered. Large membership gains 
were reported and a total of $45,000 
was paid into the Widows and Or- 
phans' fund. 

Members who are active in the or- 
der are : Spiritual Advisor, Right 
Rev. Joseph Schrembs, Bishop of 
Cleveland ; Frank X. Schwab, Buf- 
falo ; Emil Converse, Massillon, Ohio ; 
W. J. Zettelmeyer, Cincinnati, Ohio ; 
Leo G. Schu, Evansville, Ind. ; Win. 
F. Hornhorst, Covington, Ky. ; J. J. 
Treppa, Detroit; Frank M. Biel, 
Rochester, N. Y. ; John C. Shea, Day- 
ton; Dr. Chas. A. Lenhard, Detroit. 

Among the Ladies' Auxiliary active 
workers are : Mrs. Theresa Gangs- 
ter, Rochester, N. Y. ; Mrs. Rose 
Tepe, Indianapolis, Ind. ; Mrs. Clara 
Threis, Buffalo, N. Y. ; Mrs. Johanna 
E. White, Newport, Ky. ; Mrs. Anna 
Brossard, Cincinnati, Ohio ; Miss Anna 
McCullen, Philadelphia, Pa.; Mrs. 
Genevieve Berthold, Cleveland, Ohio. 



Bibliography. 

Holy Name Journal, New York; New World, Chicago; Mes- 
senger of The League of the Sacred Heart. New York; Devotion 
to the Sacred Heart, Hull; Queen's Work, St. Louis, organ of 
sodalities; Sodalists' Vade Mecum; "Various society reports and year 
books, by courtesy of officers; Glories of Ireland, Dunn Lennox; 
Federation of Catholic Societies, Father Dietz; St. Vincent de Paul 
Society Manual, Goldie; Holy Name Manual; A New Saint, Reville, 
a Catholic Mind pamphlet. 



CHAPTER IX— Part 2. 



Little Lives of Great Saints. 

St. Michael, Archangel— St. John, Evangelist — St. Paul, Apostle — St. Agnes, 
Virgin and Martyr — St. Augustine (of Hippo), Bishop and Doctor — St. Patrick, 
Bishop and Apostle — St. Leo, the Great— St. Bridgid, Abbess and Patroness of 
Ireland — St. Benedict, Abbot — St. Boniface, Bishop and Martyr — St. Bernard — St. 
Thomas Aquinas, Doctor — St. Elizabeth of Hungary— St. Francis of Assisi, Founder, 
and St. Clare, Abbess — St. Louis, King — St. Catherine of Siena— St. Ignatius of 
Loyola— St. Francis Xavier— St. "Vincent de Paul — St. Rose of Lima — St. Stanislaus 
Kotska — St. Alphonsus Liguori.. 



To present the reader of this work 
with anything like a complete collec- 
tion of Lives of the Saints — however 
brief each life might be — would mean 
a greater amount of space than can be 
given the subject in this case. There- 
fore, we shall rest satisfied with offer- 
ing extremely condensed accounts of 
the lives of only a few Saints, men and 
women, of different historical times 
and of various kinds of sanctity — 
Saints who are and were angels, apos- 
tles, evangelists, martyrs, confessors, 
virgins, doctors and founders. 

The lives of St. Joseph, St. Anne, St. 
Peter, St. Anthony, St. Dominic, St. 
Rita and St. Simon-Stock are not in- 
cluded among those here briefly 
treated, because they have been dealt 
with in other parts of this work. The 
life of St. Peter, first Pope and Bishop 
of Rome, has been told in answer to a 
charge some times made that St. Peter 
did not live in Rome. 



St. Michael, Archangel. 

As captain of God's army of angels, 
St. Michael, the Archangel, overthrew 
Lucifer and his host of angels in rebel- 
lion against God, conquered these evil 
ones and caused them to fall into the 
depths. 

Later on he appears in Holy Scrip- 
ture as the guardian of Israel— prepar- 
ing the Israelites for their return from 
the Persian captivity, leading the brave 
Maccabees to victory, and rescuing the 
body of Moses. 

Since the establishment of Holy 
Church on earth, St. Michael has ever 
been held her special champion and 
protector. Witness the fact that he is 
invoked in the ' ' Confiteor, ' ' and in the 
hour of death, and that one of the pray- 
ers said after every low Mass cele- 
brated throughout the Catholic world 
is addressed to St. Michael. 

Germany's devotion to St. Michael is 
such that she claims this prince among 



200 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



angels as the patron Saint of the Ger- 
man people. 

St. John, Evangelist. 

St. John, the youngest of the Apos- 
tles, followed Our Lord from the first 
days of His ministry and was present 
at the Transfiguration and the Agony 
in the Garden. When others — even 
St. Peter — deserted or denied the Mas- 
ter, John remained by His side. 

When he stood by the Cross with the 
Sorrowful Virgin-Mother, he was 
charged with the care of that Mother 
by the dying Savior. "Behold thy 
Mother," then said Our Lord to St. 
John, and "Behold Thy Son," He said 
to Mary. 

After the Ascension, St. John lived 
at Jerusalem and later at Ephesus. He 
wrote the Evangel or Gospel known as 
the Gospel of St. John. 

The Roman despot Domitian, who 
persecuted the Christians most cruelly, 
had him thrown into a caldron of boil- 
ing oil, but he remained miraculously 
unhurt. 

Later on, he was banished to the 
island of Patmos, where he was ac- 
corded the heavenly visions described 
in the Apocalypse. 

He died a very old man, at Ephesus, 
in the year 100 A. D. 

St. Paul, Apostle. 

A Jew, born at Tarsus, Saul studied 
at Jerusalem and when Christianity 
was very young, indeed, shortly after 
the Ascension of Our Lord, did his best 
to persecute the Christians. 

As he was on his way to Damascus, 
intending "slaughter against the dis- 



ciples of Christ, ' ' he heard a voice say, 
"Why persecutest thou Me?" and saw 
the form of Him who had been cruci- 
fied. Immediately, he was converted, 
became a most zealous Christian with 
no thought or desire but that of labor- 
ing for Christ. In baptism he took 
the name of Paul. 

He is called the Apostle of the Gen- 
tiles because he went among the Gen- 
tiles — the Ephesians, Corinthians, Ro- 
mans, and others — to preach the Faith, 
and was exceedingly successful. 

With St. Peter, he suffered martyr- 
dom in Rome. 

His fourteen epistles, contained in 
the Holy Book, are the very fountain- 
head of Christian doctrine. 

St. Agnes, Virgin and Martyr. 

St. Agnes was the offspring and 
heiress of an ancient and wealthy fam- 
ily. She was brought up as a Christian, 
and from her early childhood to her 
death — which took place when she was 
less than fifteen years old — she led a 
life of the most holy and constant 
piety. 

It was her refusal to marry the son 
of a powerful official under the cruel 
emperor, Diocletian, that brought 
about her martyrdom. Being given 
the choice between offering incense to 
the Pagan idols and so renouncing the 
true Faith, and a terrible death, she 
chose the latter joyfully. "Christ is 
my Spouse, He chose me and His will 
I be!" was her unfailing declaration. 

After she had been subjected to vari- 
ous tortures and humiliations and had 
remained steadfast in her resolution lo 



LITTLE LIVES OF GREAT SAINTS. 201 



die for the truth, she was beheaded by 
the tyrant's command. 

Owing to St. Agnes' shining inno- 
cence, purety, devotion and zeal, Holy 
Church has given her to the Children 
of Mary for their secondary patroness, 
as a model of maidenly virtue, under 
and after the Blessed Immaculate Vir- 
gin Mary herself. 

St. Augustine (of Hippo) Bishop and 
Doctor. 

Born at Tagaste, Africa, in 354, St. 
Augustine was brought up in the 
Christian faith by his pious mother, 
St. Monica, although he was not bap- 
tised, but in his early young manhood 
lost his faith and began to lead a very 
dissolute life, continuing in his career 
of vice until he was thirty-two years 
old — when, after a terrific struggle 
with the powers of evil, he availed him- 
self of God's grace, thanks no doubt, 
under God, to the constant fervent 
prayers of his pious mother. 

Having received baptism he gave all 
his property to the poor, and entered 
the religious state. In 395 he was 
consecrated Bishop of Hippo, and for 
thirty-five years remained the main- 
stay of Holy Church in Africa, and her 
champion against heresy. His writings 
have been considered from the time 
they first appeared till now to rank 
high among the masterpieces of Cath- 
olic theological thought and expression. 

He died in 430, one of the greatest 
doctors or teachers of the Faith. 

St. Patrick, Bishop and Apostle. 

Of mixed Roman and Briton extrac- 
tion, St. Patrick was born in Scotland 



toward the end of the fourth century. 
When he was fifteen years old he was 
carried to Ireland as a slave, and there 
availed himself of God's grace by be- 
coming most truly and deeply re- 
ligious. God also gave him his freedom 
— through a vision — and he returned to 
his home after a fashion that was noth- 
ing less than miraculous. 

At home, he conceived the idea of the 
conversion of Ireland, then a heathen 
country. For this purpose he prepared 
himself diligently by means of prayer 
and study and was authorized to go on 
the mission to Ireland by Pope Celes- 
tine. 

He traveled over the entire island, 
baptized an immense number of its 
people, ordained priests and insti- 
tuted convents both of men and of 
women. His metropolitan seat he fixed 
at Armagh, and thence made Ireland 
what it has ever continued to be : as 
faithfully and fervently Catholic coun- 
try as there is on the earth, an island 
which has deserved over and over again 
the glorious title of "the isle of 
Saints." 

After a life of holy success, he died 
and was buried at Down in Ulster, 
where his body still rests in the church 
of his name. 

Thanks to St. Patrick's untiring 
labor for God, Irish missionaries did a 
great deal during his lifetime and after 
his death, to evangelize France, Swit- 
zerland, England, Scotland and Ger- 
many. Wherefore, devotion to St. 
Patrick should not be restricted to Irish 
Catholics, but should live in the hearts 
of all of us. 



202 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



St. Leo, the Great. 

St. Leo, a Roman born, was chosen 
Pope in 440, succeeding Sixtus III, in 
a time of terrible adversities. 

First, the heresy of Eutyches — which 
confounded the two natures of Christ 
— gave the head of the Church a great 
deal of trouble, until it was solemnly 
condemned by the Council of Chalce- 
don which held that "Peter hath 
spoken through Leo." 

Thereafter Attila, the cruel king of 
the savage Huns, marched upon Rome 
with his hordes, meaning to destroy the 
Holy City. But the Pope went out 
of Rome to meet the invader and by 
God's help and his own holiness, in- 
duced the heathen king to turn back 
in peace. Asked why he had acted so 
mercifully, the king of the Huns an- 
swered that he had seen two superna- 
tural personages — St. Peter and St. 
Paul, it is believed, standing behind 
the Pope — and that this vision had de- 
termined his action. 

Two years later, Rome was con- 
quered by the Vandals, but St. Leo 
saved the city from destruction. 

He died in 461, having reigned for 
twenty years. 

St. Bridgid, Abbess and Patroness of 
Ireland. 

"While still a child, St. Bridgid, born 
in Ireland about 453, consecrated her 
life to God and gave everything she 
had to the poor. She was very beauti- 
ful, but prayed that she might become 
ugly — so that she would not be obliged 
by her father to remain in the world, 
but would instead be allowed to become 



a religious. Her prayer was granted; 
her eyes grew dim and swollen and her 
face grew deformed. But on the day 
she made her profession, immediately 
after she had pronounced the holy 
vows for life,, her eyes were suddenly 
healed and she recovered all her 
beauty at once. 

The first great women's convent in 
Ireland was founded for her and her 
followers, and she established many 
other convents thereafter. Her humility 
and charity were unbounded, and she 
lived seventy years in the constant 
practice of all the Christian virtues. 

In the ninth century, the remains of 
St. Bridgid were taken from Kildare 
to Down — because Kildare was in dan- 
ger of invasion by the Danes — and were 
placed in the grave which held the re- 
mains of St. Patrick. 

Outward resemblance to Our Blessed 
Lady was St. Bridgid 's lesser privi- 
lege — the greater being interior re- 
semblance, purity of heart and soul. 

St. Benedict, Abbot. 

St. Benedict (name meaning blessed) 
was born about 480, of a noble Roman 
family. 

Of a deeply religious nature, he left 
the licentious Roman world to dwell in 
an almost inaccessible cave in * the 
wilderness of the Subiaco mountains. 
There he lived for three years a life of 
prayer and contemplation, and soon 
the fame of his sanctity brought disci- 
ples to join him. And despite the rigor 
of the ride he laid down for his follow- 
ers as well as for himself, the number 
of disciples grew steadily — so that 



LITTLE LIVES OF GREAT SAINTS. 203 



twelve monasteries were erected at 
Subiaco. 

Then the founder removed to Monte 
Cassino, where he established an abbey, 
wrote the Benedictine rule and lived 
until his death, March 21st, 543. 

During his life at Monte Cassino, he 
wrought miracles, saw visions, and 
made prophecies. And he died as he 
had lived, in prayer. 

The monastic order — the first of the 
monastic orders — which he founded, 
that of the Benedictines, has done great 
things for God and for His Church 
in the past and is as active in our own 
days as ever it was before. Some of 
the deepest scholars of Christendom 
have worn the black habit of the Sons 
of St. Benedict. 

St. Boniface, Bishop and Martyr. 

Even as St. Patrick is called the 
Apostle of Ireland, St. Boniface may be 
called the Apostle of Germany. Born 
in England in the year 680, he entered 
as a youth the monastery of Exminister 
to be trained for apostolic work. 

Having obtained the Pope 's blessing, 
he then set out for Germany to convert 
the heathen Teutonic tribes. With un- 
flagging courage and zeal, he per- 
formed marvels, converting one after 
another the people of Bavaria, Thurin- 
gia, Priesland, Hesse and Saxony. The 
Pope made him a Bishop, and as such 
he extended and organized the Church 
in Germany establishing religious 
houses throughout the country. 

Not content to rest, however, he set 
out to convert more pagan tribes. It 
was while he was waiting to administer 
the Sacrament of Confirmation to a 



number of newly-baptised Christians, 
that he was attacked by a troop of sav- 
age idolators and slain with his fifty- 
two followers, thus winning the mar- 
tyr 's crown which he deserved. 

His zeal and courage in behalf of the 
Faith entitles him like St. Patrick, to 
special veneration from all Catholics 
in the world. 

St. Bernard. 

The son of a noble Burgundian fam- 
ily, St. Bernard became a Cistercian 
monk, and was followed into the re- 
ligious life by all his brothers. His 
eminent sanctity caused him to be made 
abbot of the monastery of Clairvaux. 
Thence, the fame of his virtue spread 
far and wide and many bishoprics 
asked that he might be appointed to 
rule them. But his humility desired no 
exalted rank and he begged Blessed 
Eugenius III, then Supreme Pontiff, 
to let him remain in his monastery. The 
Pope, who had been under his rule at 
one time, granted his request, but later 
charged him with preaching the Cru- 
sade for the possession of the Holy 
Land. 

The Saint obeyed and kindled the 
fervor of all Christendom so that two 
mighty armies were sent against the 
heathen 

St. Bernard's greatest work, how- 
ever, was given the world in his writ- 
ings on sacred subjects, writings so 
rich in learning and piety as to have 
earned for him the titles of "the last 
of the Fathers," and of a Doctor of 
Holy Church. 

He died a holy death in 1153. 



204 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



St. Thomas Aquinas, Doctor. 

It is from his native village Aquino 
(in Italy) that the greatest Dominican 
theologian, Saint Thomas of Aquinas, 
receives the latter part of his name. 
He was born in 1226, and received the 
Dominican habit when he was nineteen 
years old. And he persevered in the 
religious life in spite of the fact that 
his family did everything in its power 
to draw him back into the world. 

After long and deep study at Co- 
logne and Paris, he became a teacher 
of theology unsurpassed in the history 
of the Church, and his writings are 
considered to this day wondrously in- 
spired expressions of sacred doctrine. 

He was as pious as he was intellec- 
tual. Indeed, he said that prayer had 
taught him more than study. And his 
singular devotion to the Blessed Sacra- 
ment of the Altar is apparent in the 
office and hymns of Corpus Christi, 
which he composed. 

To the greater glory of God and for 
his own greater happiness, all his in- 
tellect was constantly devoted to the 
purpose of piety, until the very day of 
his death in 1274. 

St. Elizabeth of Hungary. 

The daughter of a Hungarian king, 
St. Elizabeth of Hungary was given in 
marriage to Louis, Landgrave of 
Thuringia. 

Her charity was boundless. Not only 
did she receive every day numbers of 
poor folk in her palace and give them 
generous help ; she also built hospitals 
where she served the sick as a most 
tender nurse. In fact, she gave so 



much of her time and care to the needy 
that her husband disapproved and 
sternly commanded her to "cease min- 
istering to the rabble." 

She disobeyed him, however, in this 
particular, and ran the risk of incur- 
ring his violent anger, should he dis- 
cover that she disobeyed. One day as 
she was carrying in her mantle a great 
quantity of food to the poor, she met 
her husband, and he suspiciously 
opened the mantle, to find therein — 
nothing but beautiful white and red 
roses, although it was winter time and 
roses were out of season. By this 
miracle God showed how greatly He 
loved charity. 

St. Elizabeth was driven out of her 
palace after her husband's death and 
she experienced every kind of suffer- 
ing together with her little children. 
But she continued to practice holy 
charity even in her own days of need, 
and converted many sinners by her ex- 
ample She died in 1231, at the age of 
twenty-four. 

St. Francis of Assisi, Founder, and St. 
Clare, Abbess. 

The son of a merchant of Assisi in 
Italy, St. Francis was born in 1182 and 
died in 1226. From early youth, faith, 
hope and charity lived in his heart and 
humility and the love of poverty 
waited upon them there. Therefore, 
St. Francis renounced his wealth and 
worldly station, undeterred by the 
jeers and injuries he received from his 
father and his former friends when he 
appeared among them in the livery of 
poverty, he persevered in the most 
humble form of religious life. At- 



LITTLE LIVES OF GREAT SAINTS. 



205 



tracted by his sanctity and also by the 
smiling cheerfulness with which he bore 
all deprivations, many followers joined 
him — until he was recognized as a 
founder by Pope Innocent III, and his 
Order of the "Begging Friars," or 
Franciscans, was established. This 
order soon became one of the most 
salutary forces in Christendom and 
has remained such to this day. 

After seeking the martyr's crown 
in the East, St. Francis returned to 
the West and preached the love of God 
and man to multitudes. During one 
of his retreats he was favored with the 
"stigmata," receiving on his hands, 
feet and side the print of the five 
wounds of Our Lord — whereby Our 
Lord showed clearly how dear St. 
Francis was to Him and how worthy 
He considered him. The special char- 
acteristic of St. Francis' piety was 
fheerfulness — religion, love of God, 
being joy, as he said. 

St. Clare was a noble virgin whose 
deep devotion caused her to forsake the 
world for the love of God and the 
service of the unfortunate. She was 
received into the religious life by St. 
Francis, and founded the Order of 
Franciscan nuns, known as the Poor 
Clares, devoted to holy poverty. After 
forty-one years of perpetual absti- 
nence, constant silence, and perfect 
poverty she died in 1253. 

St. Louis, King. 

St. Louis, known in worldly history 
as Louis X of France, was the son of a 
most pious mother, Queen Blanche, 
who inspired him from his early child- 



hood with true love of Jesus and of 
Mary. 

Becoming king of France at the age 
of twelve, he made God's service the 
great purpose of his life. Soon after 
his rise to the throne, he put an end 
to the Albigensian heresy. Constantly 
devout in thought, speech and action, 
he heard two Masses every day and 
caused to be built some of the most 
noble churches in France. 

Always ready to protect the poor 
and weak, he was chosen to arbitrate in 
all the great feuds between other rulers 
of his time. Out of his love for the 
Mother of God, he gave alms and help 
to all unfortunates who applied to him 
on Saturday, the day of Mary. 

In 1248 he went to rescue the Holy 
Land, at the head of a great host of 
Crusaders. And during this crusade, 
he again proved himself the foremost of 
Christian Knights in bravery as well 
as piety. 

After a return to France because of 
the death of his mother, he set forth on 
a second crusade, and, though his army 
was victorious at Tunis, he died there 
of a fever in 1270. The model of all 
Christian princes — such was and is St. 
Louis of France. 

St. Catherine of Siena. 

St. Catherine of Siena, in Italy, was 
the daughter of a humble tradesman. 
Even as a child, she loved prayer above 
all pleasures and would say the "Hail 
Mary" on every step when she 
mounted the stairs. 

In reward for her perseverance in 
bearing the harshest persecution rather 
than to give up her devotion to the re- 



206 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



ligious life, Our Lord favored her with 
the "stigmata," the print of His 
wounds on her body. 

At the age of fifteen, she entered the 
third Order of St. Dominic, and there- 
after devoted her life to the defense of 
Holy Church, which was at that time — 
the fourteenth century — grievously 
afflicted by heretics and rapacious 
princes. Sanctioned by the Pope's 
authority, she traveled through Italy, 
winning obstinate sinners to God and 
rebellious cities to the obedience of the 
Holy See. It was her work that brought 
back Gregory XI from Avignon to 
Rome, and her efforts with the kings 
and queens of Europe, strengthened 
and assured the Papal cause. She was 
the adviser of Urban VI, and when the 
Roman mob sought the Holy Father's 
life, her prayers prevented the sacri- 
legious crime. She, however, was 
cruelly scourged by the enemies of God 
and His Church. 

She died in Rome at the age of 
thirty-three A. D. 1380. 

St. Ignatius of Loyola. 

The son of a Spanish nobleman, St. 
Ignatius de Loyola was born in the 
year 1491, and served his country as a 
soldier until his thirtieth year, when — 
while he was convalescing from a sick- 
ness due to a wound received in battle 
— he felt that it was his vocation to 
serve God as a religious. 

He therefore consecrated his life to 
Our Lady at her miraculous shrine of 
Montserrat and began the constant 
practice of the virtues of humility and 
poverty. Owing to the power of his 
piety and his personality, several other 



men joined him and after a long 
preparation turned with their leader to 
the Vicar of Christ, placing themselves 
under his obedience. Thus began the 
Society of Jesus whose members, pop- 
ularly known as the Jesuits, have done 
marvelous work for the glory of God 
and His Church since the society's 
establishment in the first quarter of the 
sixteenth century. In a vision, Our 
Lord promised St. Ignatius that the 
heritage of His Passion — a heritage cf 
slanders and persecutions — should 
never fail his society and Our Lord's 
promise has certainly come wholly true 
— for the Jesuits, while very dear to 
the friends of God and His Church, 
have been consistently and unremit- 
tingly hated, vilified and persecuted 
by the enemies of religion 

St. Ignatius died on July 31st, 1556, 
after having seen his great work flour- 
ish even from its beginning. 

St. Francis Xavier. 

From a chair of philosophy at the 
University of Paris, a young Spanish 
gentleman, now known to Catholics as 
St. Francis Xavier, came to join the 
young Society of Jesus. 

After laboring among his country- 
men in Rome for a time, he was sent 
by St. Ignatius, the first general of the 
order, to the Indies, there to spread the 
Truth among the heathen. From the 
Indies he went to Malacca and Japan, 
and no obstacles, no difficulty, no dan- 
ger could dim the fire of his holy zeal 
for the salvation of souls. 

It was his glorious ambition to 
evangelize the vast empire of China, 
and he was about to risk his life in the 



LITTLE LIVES OF GREAT SAINTS. 207 



attempt to make this ambition a reality 
when he died, literally worn out with 
unceasing and ardent labor, on the 
second day of December, 1552. 

St. Vincent de Paul. 

In 1576 was born the son of a 
French peasant, who was to become not 
only the spiritual director of a queen, 
but a saint of God's Church, St. Vin- 
cent de Paul. 

Soon after his ordination, St Vin- 
cent de Paul was captured by Cor- 
sairs and carried into Barbary as a 
slave. In Barbary he converted his 
renegade master and with him re- 
turned to France, where began a ca- 
reer such that it has made the name 
"St. Vincent de Paul" synonymous 
with the blessed word "charity." 

At night he would go through the 
streets of Paris looking for small chil- 
dren left there to die. By means of 
untiring labor, he made it possible to 
establish homes for foundlings. 

Besides, he founded two congrega- 
tions, one of men and one of women, 
which have continued his work through 
the centuries, the Fathers of the Mis- 
sions, or Vincentians, and the Sisters 
of Charity. And for this alone the 
world owes St. Vincent de Paul an im- 
mense debt of gratitude. 

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, 
a laymen's organization, was not es- 
tablished by St. Vincent, but labors 
along lines strictly in accord with the 
Saint's tender idea and methods of 
charity. 

St. Vincent de Paul died in 1660. 



St. Rose of Lima. 

The first canonized Saint of the 
Americas, St. Rose of Lima, was born 
at Lima, Peru, in 1586. Baptized 
Isabel, her childish beauty was so 
striking that everybody spoke of her 
as "a rose," and she was universally 
called by the name of Rose there- 
after. Being singularly free from all 
vanity and wishing with all her heart 
to become a religious, she cut off her 
beautiful hair and did all she could 
to destroy the comeliness of her face, 
even before she entered the Third Or- 
der of St. Dominic. 

Once a nun, she lived a life of ex- 
traordinary austerity and practiced the 
severest mortifications in humble ador- 
ation and imitation of the Passion of 
Our Lord. 

Her love for the Most Holy Sacra- 
ment was unbounded and she offered 
up all her sufferings for the conversion 
of sinners. She died in 1617, at the 
age of thirty-one. 

St. Stanislaus Kostka. 

A member of a noble Polish family, 
St. Stanislaus Kostka went, with his 
older brother Paul, to the Jesuits' Col- 
lege at Vienna when he was fourteen 
years old. 

His ardent piety, which made prayer 
his favorite pastime, caused him to be 
cruelly maltreated by his brother and 
some of the latter 's associates But he 
bore his afflictions with the utmost 
meekness and put himself in the hands 
of Our Blessed Lady, under God her 
Son. She rewarded him by curing him 



208 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



of a dangerous sickness, and bade him 
enter the Society of Jesus. 

After a series of disappointments 
and persecutions due to the opposition 
of his family, he was admitted to the 
Jesuit novitiate at Rome. Here he 
lived for only ten months, but those ten 
months were marvels of piety, humility 
and obedience. And here he died, as 
he had prayed to die, on the Feast of 
Our Lady's Assumption, in 1568, at 
the age of seventeen. 

St. Stanislaus Kotska is regarded 
as the patron-saint of young men and, 
especially, young students. 

St. Alphonsus Liguori. 

Born of noble parents near Naples, 
in 1696, St. Alphonsus de Liguori was 
a doctor of law before he entered the 
priesthood. After this happy event, 
he labored unremittingly for God and 
His Church. 



To him is due the foundation of the 
Congregation of the Most Holy Re- 
deemer, whose members are generally 
known as the Redemptorists. And to 
him also the Catholic reader owes some- 
thing like sixty volumes of devotional 
literature, among which "The Glories 
of Mary" are read and loved wherever 
dwells a Catholic family. 

At the age of sixty-six, St. Al- 
phonsus became Bishop of St. Agatha. 
He made a vow never to lose any time, 
and that is why he managed to reform 
his diocese, govern and extend his 
Order, write quantities of pious books, 
and practice the most constant devo- 
tion throughout his life. 

There is so much of deep learning as 
well as of fervent piety in his books 
that he has been declared a Doctor 
of the Church. 

His death came in his ninety-first 
year, A. D., 1787. 



Bibliography. 

Butler's Lives of the Saints, revised edition, is here suggested as 
a very practical presentation of a subject which offers consolation 
in affliction and an inspiration to devout lives. Rule of St. Bene- 
dict, Delatte; Lives of Early Popes, Meyrick; Letters of St. Teresa, 
St. John Berchmans, Delahaye, Martyrs of the Coliseum, O'Reilly; 
Patron Saints, Mannix, are special works used in this preparation. 




AMERICAN ARCHBISHOPS 

Top, left, Archbishop Christie, Portland, Ore.; top, right, Archbishop Keane, 
Dubuque, la.; lower, Archbishop Daeger, Santa Fe, N. M. 



CHAPTER X. 

The Forbidden Societies. 

Decree of Condemnation — Why the Church Forbids Catholics to Join the 
Masons and Other Secret Societies — Expert Testimony on the Masons' Connection 
with European Bodies — Masonry Not of Ancient Origin — Kabbalath and Mystic 
Shrine — The Knights of Pythias, Odd Fellows, Sons of Temperance, Joiners. 



The Forbidden Secret Societies. 

In America, the societies in which 
Catholics may not accept membership 
are the Mason, the Odd Fellows, the 
Knights of Pythias and the Sons of 
Temperance. 

The Odd Fellows were founded in 
England in 1812. They use forms 
of worship, have chaplains, altars, 
high priests, an order of worship and 
funeral ceremonies. They claim no 
home can be an ideal one unless their 
teachings are made a rule of life. 

The Sons of Temperance were es- 
tablished in New York in 1842. Both 
men and women mingle in this secret 
society's work. Their objects are not 
confined to temperance, as their mode 
of initiation, the form of its obliga- 
tions and the manner of religious ob- 
ligation prove. — (Rosen). 

The Knights of Pythias were 
founded in 1864 by prominent Free 
Masons. The objects of this society 
are — the oath of secrecy, even from 
Church and State, who under certain 
conditions have a right to know what 
the members of the society are doing. 
Such blind obedience is wrong, 
against all human and divine law. 



The Knights of Pythias have religious 
worship, oath and "prelates." 

Decree of Condemnation, 1894. 

(Extract). 

"The bishops must endeavor by all 
means to keep the faithful from join- 
ing all and each of the three afore- 
said societies; and warn the faithful 
against them; and if, after proper 
monition, they still determine to be 
members of these societies, or do not 
effectually separate themselves from 
them, they are forbidden the recep- 
tion of the sacraments." 

A later decree, in 1896, considers 
nominal membership, if on appeal 
to the judgment of the apostolic de- 
legate four conditions are fulfilled: 

1. The Society was entered in 
good faith ; 2. There be no scandal ; 
3. Grave temporal injury would re- 
sult from withdrawal ; 4. There be 
no danger of perversion. 

In granting a dispensation the dele- 
gate usually requires a promise that 
the person will not attend meetings 
or frequent the lodge rooms. Dues 
must be paid by a third party and 
in case of death, the society must 
have nothing to do with the funeral. 



210 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Societies of women affiliated with 
these forbidden societies fall under 
the same ban. In case the society was 
entered since 1894 the fact of good 
faith on entering, is particularly em- 
phasized. 

Why the Church Forbids Catholics 
to Join the Free Masons. 

In writing on the above subject, 
we might state that there is at no 
time any question of attacking Free- 
masonry, among members of which 
Catholics possess many excellent 
friends and esteemed acquaintances. 
Our sole object is to state some of 
the reasons for which the Church for- 
bids Catholics to belong to the society, 
and why they should forego temporal 
advantages which result from its mem- 
bership. 

Shortly expressed, a prominent 
writer's objections to Freemasonry 
are as follows -.- 

Christianity is unknown to Masonry, 
or rather, is ignored by it. The 
new member is taught to see in the 
Master of the lodge the "Sun of Jus- 
tice," and humbly to beg of his new 
made brethren "Masonic Light." Yet 
if Masonry possessed anything supe- 
rior to that possessed by ordinary peo- 
ple in the way of "Light," its moral 
obligations alone should make it 
share it with all — a condition of af- 
fairs unknown under the Masonic 
system of secrecy. In fact, the 
Craft's secrecy is an implied admis- 
sion that its advantages are not of 
universal application. All belief in 
Revelation, other than the Masonic, 
has to be left by the newcomer at the 



door of the lodge while he is being 
transported to the time of Solomon — 
Calvary and its sacrifice being un- 
heard of. 

Masonry also ignores the Gospel's 
teaching that our prayers are to 
be offered in the name of the Re- 
deemer. It even rejects the Christian 
Chronology, and its real religion is 
universalism. The prayers of the 
lodge are addressed to the Grand 
Architect of the Universe, the mean- 
ing of which may be variously inter- 
preted by Masons. Indeed, the Mason 
in Lodge has to treat Jesus Christ as 
a nonentity, though, privately, he may 
entertain other views and still be a 
good Mason. A Mason cannot, how- 
ever, profess atheism. Yet all this is 
wholly absurd and stultifying, since it 
means that a Mason, as a Mason, may 
say: "Lord, I know you not," while 
as a private person he will say: 
"Lord, have mercy upon me." And 
in the case of clergymen who are 
masons, the position is far mor" 
serious. 

(2) As regards the oath, the can- 
didate swears with eyes blindfolded 
to keep secret he knows not what, 
says the Avriter; he also swears Fide- 
lity to a society as to the precepts of 
which he as yet knows nothing; he 
also invokes destruction on himself 
in case he should violate secrecy. He 
empowers his brethren to injure him 
in case of defection. No Catholic can 
regard the Masonic oath, when consid- 
ered seriously, otherwise than as 
blasphemous, contrary to right reason 
as blind and unknown and opposed 
to the good of the State. How does 



THE FORBIDDEN SOCIETIES. 211 



the Masonic society carry out its 
threat? The carpet of the lodge, 
(says the writer) may not be stained 
with blood, nor its walls contain an 
' ' oubliette, ' ' but Masonry can, and on 
occasion does, cause the ruin or de- 
cay of men who for conscientious 
reasons have merely abandoned it, 
without attempting to do evil to 
their former associates. As for the 
Church, there is no need to resort to 
extreme measures on her account, 
since she never requires ex-Masons 
to divulge any of the society's secrets. 

It is a known fact, says the writer, 
that masonic signs are made use of 
in courts of justice in order to obtain, 
or to try to obtain, secret advantage. 
"It is within the writer's know- 
ledge," says the author, "that an Eng- 
lish judge responded to the Masonic 
signs of a litigant in whose favor he 
gave his verdict, though it is fair 
to state that this was not contrary to 
the weight of very confused evi- 
dence." 

No daily newspaper in England 
dares publish the faintest criticism of 
the Craft, or still less expose a Ma- 
sonic scandal, while in matters of 
place and patronage, in all countries, 
the first duty of the Masonic patron 
is clearly to secure the services of a 
Masonic brother, in which cases "Ma- 
sonic Light" must be somewhat apt 
to blur the vision. "In short, it is," 
says the writer, "impossible to be- 
lieve that all this enormous expend- 
iture of time and money is under- 
taken merely to befriend the orphan 
and the widow, to practice an esoteric 
ritual and furnish a pretext for 



convivial meetings, and not to offer 
great facilities and temptations to 
brethren of the middle and lower so- 
cial grades to favoritism and job- 
bery." There may be matter for 
praise in the moral teachings sug- 
gested by the Masonic ritual; never- 
theless, says the writer, members of 
the fraternity do not find themselves 
debarred from its official honors by 
table excesses or by impurity of life. 
It is also certain that Masons, as a 
rule, rarely pretend that their motives 
in joining the Craft are other than 
those of personal gain or social ad- 
vancement. 

(3) In regard to the charity ex- 
ercised by Masonic bodies, Masoris 
only consider the virtue in its sense 
of "philanthropy," which is a virtue 
of the natural order. And being only 
philanthropic, Masonry is far from 
being "charitable," since it deliber- 
ately excludes from its membership 
the poor and needy, though it gene- 
rously supports worthy brethren 
overtaken by adversity as well as 
their widows and orphans. Masonic 
benevolence is applied to its own 
members only, and in this Masonry is 
more like a trade-union society in 
which material benefit is really pre- 
empted by contributions. 

Viewed as a whole, the precepts of 
Christianity and those of Masonry are 
in many respects so antagonistic or 
contradictory that Masons stultify 
themselves by practicing those of 
Masonry and claiming to belong to 
the Christian body. These observa- 
tions being (says the publicist) in- 
tended only for Catholics, the latter, 



212 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



while thinking kindly of their Ma- 
sonic friends, should respect and up- 
hold the reiterated condemnations of 
Freemasonry by the Ohurch. 

Expert Testimony on American 
Freemasonry. 

In view of the constant repetition 
of the remark that American Free- 
masonry had no sympathy or affilia- 
tion with the European variety, the 
following contribution by the editor 
of "The American Freemasonry,"' 
which proclaims itself: "A monthly 
magazine designed for information of 
the wide-spread Masonic Fraternity,"' 
will be read with interest: — 

"The various papers on 'Needs and 
Opportunities of Masonry' show an 
interest in the general subject, and 
each contribution received gives a dif- 
ferent view-point. A number of these 
arranged for the present issue have 
been unavoidably put over, but I can 
not refrain from quoting here the 
sentences of a Past Grand Master who 
is of the opinion that the crucial need 
and real opportunity of American 
Freemasonry has not yet been 
touched upon. I have asked a 
further elaboration of his ideas. He 
says : 

" 'The need of American Masonry 
is to look with discerning eyes into 
the events of the time, to learn from 
current history at home and abroad 
the tactics that are employed, and 
effectively, to grip power for enslave- 
ment of men's minds and consciences. 
Let us learn from our brothers of 
France and Italy and Spain and 
Portugal — from all Latin Masonry — 



the power of our foes. So far, we 
have played directly into the hands 
of those who regard us with inveter- 
ate hate. We have echoed the cry 
of the hostile churchmen that these 
others are godless," "atheistic," 
"merely political;" so different from 
the dear and pious American Masons. 
"Divide to Conquer" has always been 
the policy of the Church, and it has 
worked beautifully for the Church's 
advantage in dealing with our frater- 
nity in the United States. 

" 'In saying this I do not agree 
with the senseless slanders that make 
up the stock-in-trade of certain ele- 
ments and periodicals which might 
be suspected of opposing the Koman 
Ohurch for revenue only. I do not 
take stock in horrible Jesuit oaths, or 
blasphemies and obscenities in the ob- 
ligations of the Knights of Columbus, 
nor in stories of church basements 
filled with arms and ammunition. It 
is best to give your opponents in any 
case the credit of having common- 
sense. And especially so when they 
are as astute and experienced as the 
leaders of the ecclesiastical forces. 
There is enough to charge upon these 
clerical foes, and matters far more 
dangerous than such silly tales. Is 
our disorganized mob of masonry cap- 
able of taking the field with any 
chance of success against such foes? 
Could we accomplish even a small 
part of what these our despised bro- 
thers of Latin Europe have done ? The 
need of the American fraternity, now 
pressing and all-important, is to drill, 
discipline and equip the real fighters, 
and get rid of or relegate to the rear 



THE FORBIDDEN SOCIETIES. 213 



the incompetents and weaklings and 
time-servers." 

There is an open letter to American 
Masons in the August, (1915) New 
Age, that brings out an interesting 
point : 

It is not true that Masons do not 
recognize Latin Masonry; precisely 
the contrary is the case. The Interna- 
tional Conference of the Supreme 
Councils of the Scottish Rite which 
took place in Washington in October, 
1912, is clear and irrefutable proof 
of the fraternity which exists be- 
tween Latin Masonry and the Masonry 
of Europe and America. Nearly all 
of the Supreme Councils of Latin 
Masonry were represented there and 
the American Masons during the Con- 
ference and before it, at the ceremo- 
nies which were celebrated in Boston, 
showed their feelings of hospitality in 
so delightful a manner that the mem- 
ory of these Conferences will remain 
in the hearts of those who partici- 
pated in them with constant pleasure 
and gratitude. 

Not Unfrequently Fair-Minded. 

American Masons repudiate the rad- 
ical policies of the craft abroad. This 
official statement may surprise and 
shock them. 

It is only fair, however, to say — by 
way of comment on this expression of 
a leading American Mason — that the 
majority of American Masons does 
not seem to be in sympathy with the 
Latin Masons who are savage enemies 
and despoilers of the Church. As a 
matter of fact, a Mason of high stand- 
ing — both as a man and as a Mason — 



in the State of Illinois, Mr. Rawson 
Bennett, has published a pamphlet in 
which he declares American Masou- 
ry's disapproval of the objectionable 
anti-Catholic methods of the Masons 
of France, Italy, Spain and Portugal. 

Masonry Not of Ancient Origin. 

The New Age, the official organ of 
the Supreme Council of Scottish Rite 
Freemasonry in the United States, 
issued a single number for the months 
of November and December 1918. The 
myth that Masonry is of remote ori- 
gin, is denied by Edward C. Day, of 
the 33-33 degree, who on page 483, 
writes : 

Freemasonry as a potential organ- 
ized force of civilization, is but 200 
years old. Two hundred years ago 
there met at the Apple-Tree Tavern 
in London, on St. John's Day, in the 
summer of 1717, a group of men who 
set in motion among English speak- 
ing people a movement which was to 
gather force with the coming years 
and to aid in making secure the fruits 
of a victory which the English had 
won after many years of bloody con- 
flict. 

In other words, the organization 
called Freemasonry was founded in 
a London tavern in 1717. This should 
be an answer to those who claim very 
ancient origin for the order. 

The Kabbalah and the Mystic Shrine. 

The Mystic Shrine is an inner-circle 
of high international or so-called 
Scottish Rite Masonry. It is formed 
exclusively of the thirty-second de- 
gree (Princes of the Royal Secret). 



214 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



The Shriners, as they are called, from 
the climax of high Masonry's "true 
light," dating as some claim from 
about six hundred years before 
Christ. The connection of course has 
not been established. 

At this time some apostate Jews 
who deserted the ancient religion to 
curry favor with their captors, the 
Babylonians, were initiated into the 
pagan rites of the country. From 
their defection resulted the "Kab- 
balah," a sort of anti-Bible, which 
was composed by them. The Phari- 
sees, of later notoriety, especially 
condemned by Christ, were of this 
class. Rev. Dr. Charles, in "La Solu- 
tion de la Question Juive," Paris, 
1900, discusses the matter thoroughly. 
One Masonic authority, Albert Pike, 
claims that "all truly dogmatic re- 
ligions have issued from the Kabba- 
lah and return to it : everything scien- 
tific and grand is the religious dreams 
of the illuminati, is borrowed from 
the Kabbalah. All Masonic associations 
owe to it their secrets and symbols." 
"(Morals and Dogma of the Ancient 
and Accepted Scottish Rite," p. 774-5 
quoted from "A Study in American 
Freemasonry," by Arthur Preuss. 

The root of the doctrines emanat- 
ing from the Kabbalah is discussed in 
the "Fortnightly Review," Oct. '1G, 
It is supposed that the mysteries of 
certain secret societies in Babylon 
contain its origin. The dogma of the 
deification of men, which the Kabba- 
lah contains, was limited to Baby- 
lonians, until, about six hundred B. C. 
the Pharisees were admitted. These 
apostates then admitted only Jews to 



the inner-circle of deification. Later 
other nations, considered as inferiors 
and called "goim" were admitted. The 
substance of the idea is that "God 
manifests Himself on earth in the 
form of a Jew. The Jew is a living 
God, God incarnate, the celestial man. 
Other men are of the earth, an in- 
ferior race ; they exist only to serve 
the Jew." (Quoted from Rev. Dr. 
Charles' work, mentioned above.) 

The Knights ot Pythias. 

A Knight of Pythias and a Catholic 
are not terms to harmonize together. 
A Catholic who becomes a Knight of 
Pythias incurs excommunication. If 
he was a member when the decision 
was promulgated some years back 
against that society, he was bound 
to sever all connection with it. If he 
wanted to still retain the insurance 
benefits, he could by consulting his 
pastor learn how to cease absolutely 
to be an active member, and not for- 
feit his claims for pecuniary benefits. 
We may suppose that a Catholic in- 
terested as an official in the Church 
may be in this way a member of the 
Knights of Pythias, having joined 
many years ago, and now never at- 
tending a meeting, and now having 
no connection whatever with the so- 
ciety except to pay dues and assess- 
ments that will secure to him and his 
family sick and insurance benefits. If 
he is an active member he is not even 
a Catholic, being expelled by the de- 
cision of the Church from her Com- 
munion. Moreover, a Catholic cannot 
decide for himself that he will remain 
a Knight of Pythias, simply paying 



THE FORBIDDEN SOCIETIES. 



215 



his dues. He must submit his in- 
dividual case to his pastor or con- 
fessor, who in turn has to submit it to 
the bishop. And even the bishop is 
not the final judge. Bach separate 
case requires its own consideration 
and solution. And a man cannot ar- 
gue in his own favor from a decision 
given to another. 

Joiners. 

An editorial in Extension Magazine, 
October, 1922, thus considers the ten- 
dency of Americans to join many so- 
cieties : 

"There are quite a large number of 
lodges of different kinds in Europe, 
but no one ever sees their members 
carrying a badge. Europeans take 
quite the proper attitude. They know 
that the badge is not one of honor, 
so they are not anxious to show it. 
It is entirely different with us. We 
have no aristocracy in America, and, 
consequently, no ribbons and garters, 
Orders of the Bath, of the Thistle, of 
the Primrose, of the Rising Sun. But 
we must be decorated with something. 
Those who have had war service man- 
age to get along. Others join fra- 
ternal societies and cover their coat 
lapels with beehives and scimiters, 
suns, moons, stars, crooks, and some- 
times even crosses. Not having an 
aristocracy, we have no heraldry, and, 
not knowing that heraldry is a rather 
exact science, we proceed to make one 
of our own. Every one of our secret 
societies has a shield fearfully and 
wonderfully constructed. It violates 
every rule of the game, but what dif- 
ference? There is scarcely a state in 



the union that has not a shield origi- 
nally made by a house painter. It is 
said that some years ago a tobacconist 
in London, named Quid, suddenly 
found himself rich and wanted a coat 
of arms. Instead of going to a her- 
ald for it he went to a wit, who made 
him a shield for his carriage door 
with crossed tobacco pipes and the 
motto "Quid rides." It was ap- 
propriate enough in English, but to 
the Latinist it was the joke of the 
year. A few months ago the Middle 
West swarmed with people passing to 
and from California, each decorated 
with a gold embroidered Turkish fez. 
In every big city "brothers" were on 
hand at the stations to show them 
around and give them directions. At 
the Union Station in Chicago we 
heard this conversation : 

" 'Where do you wish to go, 
noble?' 

" 'To the stock yards, noble,' 

" 'I shall get an automobile for 
you, noble.' 

" 'Thank you, noble.' 

"All concerned were citizens of a 
country that boasts of its democracy. 
What kind of Americans are we, any- 
how? We claim to be plain citizens, 
and then we steal behind doors and 
curtains to become High and Mighty 
Potentates, Masters Supreme, Plain 
and Grand, Princes of Jerusalem, 
Chevaliers Kadosh, and Kings and 
Prelates of varied degrees. If we 
cannot decorate ourselves in any- 
thing else, we get the tooth of a 
beast and try to find an analogy be- 
tween that and right living. We do 
not seem able to do even a kind and 



216 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



charitable act, or insure our family 
from want, without first marching 
lock-step behind some big bruiser 
wearing a tin helmet and carrying a 
wooden spear. We won't go to 
church to hear a sermon, but we eat 
up moral instructions from a man who 
never had any morals, but who is 
dressed up like a high priest of Zo- 
roaster and sits on a chair which has 
the mystic merit of facing the East. 
Even the women are going into these 
nonsensical fads. What a humiliation 
it is that a candidate for a political 



office requiring administrative ability 
and statesmanship, has to show as his 
credentials a varied membership in 
organizations that absorb his time 
with frumperies and make heavy 
drafts upon his dignity as a human 
being. Why condemn the Ku Klux- 
ers? The most 'respectable' members 
of Anglo-Saxon society gave them 
their depraved taste. Even the sen- 
sible King Edward the Seventh, got 
his morals from his degrees, and it 
must be admitted that, at least, early 
in life, they looked it." 



Bibliography. 

Besides the works directly quoted we refer our readers to 
Seven Articles on Freemasonry; Freemasonry and Catholicism, 
Kenny; Secret Societies, Rosen; Objections to Secret Societies, Book; 
Christian Science and the Catholic Church, Coakley; Delusion of 
Christian Science, a Catholic Mind pamphlet; Papal Decree of 
Condemnation, 1894; Fortnightly Review, St. Louis, articles; Free- 
masonry, Johnson, a Catholic Truth pamphlet. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Our Non-Catholic Neighbors. 

What They Believe and Practice — Lutherans — Methodists— Episcopalians — 
Presbyterians — Baptists— Gongregationalists — Unitarians— Disciples of Christ — Ethi- 
cal culturists — Universalists — Unusual Forms — Adventists — Quakers — Dunkards — 
Shakers— Mennonites — Mormons — Dowieites — Communists — Moravians — Waldenses 
— Salvation Army. 

The World and Its Religion, Numerically— Growth of Churches in U. S. — 
Disproportion Between Numbers and Influence. 



In thus presenting a summary of the 
main articles of belief in the different 
denominations into which our non- 
Catholic neighbors are grouped, it will 
be understood that it is impossible to 
particularly describe each one because 
of the many changes which have taken 
place since the days of the first Protes- 
tant. In the short space of a few years 
after Luther's time more than one hun- 
dred different sects were known. 
Others have developed since that time, 
of course. Only the better known de- 
nominations are listed here. And it is 
possible that some one of our friends 
does not subscribe to all that teachings 
outlined for his particular body. Al- 
lowance must be made for changes in 
locality and other changes sure to fol- 
low such freedom of opinion. Statis- 
tics are given elsewhere. No attempt is 
made at refutation. The doctrine of 
the Catholic Church on any point may 
also be located elsewhere in this vol- 
ume. 

Lutherans. 

Lutheranism, the oldest of the Pro- 
testant sects, was founded in Witten- 



berg by Martin Luther (described else- 
where). His followers accept the au- 
thority of the Scriptures as modified, 
and the Nicene, Apostles and Athana- 
sian creeds. The Scriptures are the sole 
Rule of Faith. Justification by Faith 
alone, with a denial of Purgatory and 
confession, consubstantiation, meaning 
the Real Presence in a union, not 
hypostatic but transcendent and mys- 
terious, form the substantial doctrines. 
Different shades of belief are found, 
the orthodox who hold to confession, 
and the semi-infidel theologians who 
deny the authority of the Scriptures. 
There are many different Evangelical 
churches, secession having been numer 
ous and frequent since Luther's time. 

Methodists. 

Methodism, the outgrowth of teach- 
ings by John Wesley, 1739, was pre- 
sented to the world in 1743 in twenty- 
five articles adapted from the thirty- 
nine articles of the church of England. 
Twenty-four were adapted for the 
Methodists in America at Baltimore 
1784. Inspired scriptures are the sole 



218 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



and sufficient Rule of Faith and prac- 
tice. The Trinity and the Divinity of 
Christ are upheld. Man's co-operation 
with the Divine Gift of Grace is neces- 
sary for Salvation. Grace is a remedy 
for Original Sin and the tendency to 
sin in man. Justification by Faith is 
taught, and the performance of good 
works is commended. The doctrine of 
works of supererogation is condemned. 
Baptism and the Lord 's Supper are ad- 
mitted, baptism, strengthening Faith, 
but does not produce sanctifying grace 
in the soul. Eucharist is a memorial 
of the Passion and Death of our Lord, 
who is not really present, but is re- 
ceived in a spiritual manner. Chris- 
tians may react a state of holiness 
which excludes all voluntary offenco 
against God. The Methodists are strict 
observers of the Lord's Day, and are 
especially strict in abstinence from in- 
toxicants. They believe in plain, in- 
expensive apparel and discourage 
worldly amusements. They are aggres- 
sive in their work of spreading their 
teachings. Theirs is an abridgement 
of the church service found in the Book 
of Common Prayer. Their bishops are 
for administrative purposes only, there 
being no superiority in ordination. 
Deacons and Elders are active in 
church mangement. 

Methodist Branches. 

The Free Methodists are a branch 
protesting aganst the abandonment of 
early Methodist ideals. They have no 
bishops, exclude the members of secret 
societies from membership in the 
church, forbid the use of tobacco and 
the wearing of rich apparel. 



The Colored Methodists organized 
for themselves in America in 1796. 
They have many bodies, separate and 
independent, yet differ in no essential 
detail from the parent body. 

Some branches are the Methodist 
Episcopal, Methodist Protestant, Con- 
gregational Methodists, Independent 
Methodists, most of which originated in 
America in recent years. 

Episcopalians. 

The Protestant Episcopal Church, 
known as the Episcopalian Church, is a 
branch of the English Church, estab- 
lished in America. This church origi- 
nated with the Reformation in Eng- 
land. They claim to be baptised mem- 
bers of the Church of Christ. They ac- 
cept the Scriptures as the Word of 
God, holding them in their own trans- 
lation, as the sole and supreme rule of 
faith. The Book of Common Prayer 
is the practical rule of belief and wor- 
ship, using in it the three Creeds, the 
Apostles, the Nicene and the Athana- 
sian. They have two sacraments, Bap- 
tism and the Lord 's Supper, which they 
hold as generally necessary. They 
claim Apostolic Succession and a val- 
idly ordained ministry, believing that 
theirs is a reformed part of the church 
established by Christ. The King is the 
head of the church. The clergy assent 
to the Thirty-nine Articles before or- 
dination. The laity are not bound to 
accept them, being asked to assent to 
the Apostles' Creed only. Latitude is 
permitted in belief as to the nature of 
the Bible's inspiration. 

In America, the Episcopalians are 
better known in divisions called the 



OUR NON-CATHOLIC NEIGHBORS. 219 



"High Church" and the "Low 
Church." The High Church followers 
desire Apostolic Succession, and are in- 
tellectual rather than emotional, laying 
stress upon their outward church or- 
ganization, and are known for their de- 
sire to keep up all Catholic Church 
practices, introducing confession, the 
invocation of the Blessed Virgin and 
of the Saints and other features long 
ago discarded by their ancestors. The 
Low Church people desire more to fra- 
ternize with the other progeny of the 
reformation period, and utterly refuse 
the innovations of their more advanced 
friends. They claim that Apostolic suc- 
cession is not at all necessary for their 
belief and refuse to further the evident 
desire of the High Church faction for 
reunion with the original church. The 
claims of certain Anglicans to apos- 
tolic succession are considered else- 
where under "Wyclif and the Lol- 
lards," and "Anglican Orders." 

Presbyterians. 

Preshyterianism means a system of 
church government by representatives 
of the congregations, and was thus 
called by Calvin, the founder. Their 
standard is set by the Westminster 
Confession of Faith and Catechism of 
1647, with the contents modified. Gov- 
ernment by presbyteries is the chief 
feature, added to Calvin's strict ideas 
of theology and the absence of pre- 
scribed forms of worship. It holds all 
clergymen as equals, but authority 
rests with the presbyteries, having f our 
grades of administration, the Sessions, 
governing one congregation; the 
Synod, governing a larger group of 



churches, and the General Assembly, 
which is the highest court. There are 
ruling elders and deacons selected by 
the congregation. The pastors are 
called to different places. Their theol- 
ogy gives precedence to predestination, 
teaches the total depravity of fallen 
man and the exclusion of the non-elect 
from the benefits of Christ's atone- 
ment. This last has been recently dis- 
avowed, although still held by old-time 
Presbyterians. Baptism is necessary, 
not as a means of salvation, but because 
it has been commanded. Christ is pres- 
ent in the Last Supper, effectively only 
for believers. There are no invariable 
forms of worship, and although some 
are advised, their use is optional. 
Their services are very simple. In- 
strumental music is not allowed in some 
places. Communion is administered at 
certain intervals, the days being pre- 
scribed by the officers of the church. 

The Reformed Presbyterians are a 
development of the Old Covenanters, 
Church of Scotland, sometimes called 
the Cameronians. The Seceders, also 
a branch of the Scottish Church are 
in America. The Welsh branch is ac- 
tive among the Welsh people settled in 
this country. Then there are the New 
School and the Old School Presby- 
terians, Regular Presbyterians and As- 
sociated Presbyterians. 

Baptists. 

The Baptists, so-called because of 
their adherence to this form of entry 
into the church, follow the Philadelphia 
Confession of 1742, an adaptation from 
the Presbyterians. Members make pro- 
fession of faith at introduction to the 



220 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



church, which includes baptism by im- 
mersion, (see article on Baptism by 
Immersion). They consider the Scrip- 
tures as the sole rule of faith and prac- 
tice, although individuals enjoy unre- 
stricted freedom in interpretation. 
They reject infant baptism, yet insist 
upon Baptism for adults, which with 
the Eucharist, forms the sum of their 
sacraments. These are mere symbols 
not producing grace at all. The Lord 's 
Supper, merely sets forth the death 
of Christ as the sustaining power of 
the believer's life. Only church mem- 
bers are admitted to it, called close 
communion, which is being modified, 
however. Church officers are elected. 
Ministers are ordained by councils of 
ministers from neighboring churches. 
Each church is in control of its own 
affairs. 

The Free Will Baptists are Ameri- 
can in origin but differ little from the 
old country Baptists. The Hard Shell 
Baptists are opposed to Missions, Sun- 
day Schools and in general to human 
religious institutions. The Seventh- 
Day Baptists, Six Principle Baptists, 
Old - Two - Seed - in - the - Spirit - 
Predestinarian Baptists, Winnebren- 
narians and Campbellites, known as 
Disciples of Christ, are branches. 

Congregationalists. 

The Congregationalists are an out- 
growth of the Anglican State Church, 
becoming known as "Dissenters" un- 
der Cromwell. Robert Brown was a 
pioneer leader. They are known, too, 
as the "Independents," and then, 
among the Puritans when under 
Brewster and Carver, they came in the 



Mayflower to New England, their pres- 
ent name developed. The Savoy Declara- 
tion of 1658 forms the groundwork of 
their belief. The elect are called indi- 
vidually by the Lord, and commanded 
to walk in particular societies or 
churches. Each church is to conduct 
its own affairs, with officers elected and 
solemnly set apart for their duties by 
a ceremony of fasting and prayer. 
There is also imposition of hands by 
the elders. Consent of the church is re- 
quired for all new members, and power 
is held to excommunicate all disorderly 
members. Dissatisfied members can 
transfer to another church at will. 
Members of other denominations are 
received into occasional communion 
upon recommendation. At first dis- 
tinctly Calvanistic the Congregational- 
ists have drifted more and more to- 
wards rationalism of the Unitarian 
type. They differ with the Baptists in 
conceding to parents the right of hav- 
ing children baptised in infancy. 

Unitarians. 

The Unitarians are an association of 
those who reject belief in the Blessed 
Trinity. They originated among the 
Congregationalists in New England, al- 
though their ideas are traced to an 
earlier date in Europe. No standard 
of belief is recognized, and no doctrinal 
tests are made as a condition of mem- 
bership. Each member enjoys complete 
freedom in his individual religious 
opinions, hence no set of doctrines can 
be framed. Authority of the Bible is 
retained in varying degree, according 
as reason accepts or rejects its teach- 
ings. Jesus is a teacher to be followed, 



OUR NON-CATHOLIC NEIGHBORS. 221 



not a God to be worshiped. The Sac- 
raments are suppressed, two of them 
only being tolerated but declared un- 
necessary. It is a natural religion with 
a tendency towards Pantheism. 

Disciples of Christ. 

The Disciples of Christ, "Cambell- 
ites," date from the early part of the 
nineteenth century. They hold to the 
Bible alone without creeds of any kind. 
The Campbells, father and son, were 
originators. 

Ethical Culture. 

The Society of Ethical Culture, 
founded by Felix Adler, in New York, 
1876, urges the "improvement of the 
moral life of its members and of the 
community, without regard to theolog- 
ical or philosophical opinions." They 
believe this can be done without re- 
ligion; in fact many members are 
openly antagonistic to religion. They 
would do away with all religion in edu- 
cation. True Christians know that 



without Divine Grace, without frequent 
reception of the Sacraments and 
prayer, a morally good life for any con- 
siderable length of time is impossible. 

Universalists. 

The Universalists are a product of 
this country, their teachings developed 
from Relly of England, by John Mur- 
ray, 1870. They believe in the final 
salvation of all souls, adapting their 
tenets from the General Covenant at 
Winchester, N. H., in 1803. They be- 
lieve also that the Scriptures reveal 
the character of God, and the duty, 
interests and destiny of man. They 
hold that there is one God whose nature 
is "Love," revealed in Jesus Christ, 
and that holiness and happiness are 
inseparably connected. Although there 
is much variation in viewpoint amongst 
them, generally they hold that all men 
will be saved. They do not believe in 
hell. Punishment in the other world, 
if any, will be only temporary. 



Some Unusual Forms. 



Adventists. 

The Adventists are a sect begun by 
William Miller, in 1833, with six 
bodies existing today, holding a com- 
mon belief in the near return of Christ 
in person. After much study of the 
prophecies, Miller decreed this return 
for the year 1843, with assurance of 
the end of the world at that time. 
Again the next year his followers pre- 
pared for the end of the world, and 
after that came the break in the ranks. 
The Adventists are congregational in 



church government ; they hold to a 
belief that the dead remain unconscious 
until Judgment, when the wicked will 
be destroyed. The Seventh Day Ad- 
ventists hold the old Sabbath day as 
the Day of Rest. 

Quakers. 

The Society of Friends, called Quak- 
ers, is an English-American sect 
founded by George Fox, in Leicester, 
England, in 1624. It is the outgrowth 
of imaginings at variance with all 
churches, creeds and denominations. 



222 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Fox's entire dogma was that of the 
"inner light," communicated directly 
to man by Christ. The sole supreme 
duty of man is to obey the voice of 
Christ speaking within the soul. Rites, 
sacraments and observances are dis- 
carded; interpretation of the Scriptures 
is made through this "light." Oaths 
are illicit ; titles of honor to a superior 
are wrong; war, even if defensive, is 
unlawful. The drama, field sports, 
music and art are rejected as unbe- 
coming a Christian. Simplicity of 
dress is required with a total absence 
of ornament. Their meeting-houses are 
bare and without decoration, despising 
what they call "steeplehouses. " They 
worship in silence until the "spirit" 
moves some one to "give testimony." 
Their belief is expounded in the 
Creed, and their church government 
modeled on the Presbyterian system. 
The Quakers figure prominently in 
American history, especially in Penn- 
sylvania, where one of their leaders, 
William Penn, gave his name to that 
state. There are now the Orthodox, 
the Hicksite, Wilburite and the Primi- 
tive Quakers, which are called dissent 
ing sects. 

Dunkards. 

The Dunkards are a sect of German 
Baptists, who admit regular baptist 
teachings, only in addition, the candi- 
date is required to kneel in the water 
for the ceremony of Baptism, and is 
dipped forward three separate times in 
recognition of the Trinity. Communion 
is administered in the evening with the 
love-feast of agape, followed by the kiss 
of charity. Foot-washing takes place 
on special occasions. They refuse to 



take oath, to bear arms and to engage 
in law-suits. 

Shakers. 

The Shakers, an outgrowth of the 
Quakers, live in communities. They 
are followers of Mother Ann Lee, the 
"elect lady," who came from England 
in 1774. The name is an indication of 
the activity of the body under religious 
excitement. They hold all property in 
common, take meals together, arise at 
the same hour and go through the 
various activities of the day in com- 
mon. They have uniform modes of 
dress, plain and severe in appearance. 
They live a strict rule, discouraging 
the use of tobacco and alcohol, with no 
attempt at police surveillance, no law 
courts or judges. They practice celibacy 
and endeavor to avoid "all worldly 
usages, manners, customs and affec- 
tions." Membership comes from re- 
vival attendance, and from homeless 
children eared for by the settlement. 
They have existed at Mt. Lebanon, 
N. Y., for more than one hundred years 
with many signs of successful effort. A 
colony in Kentucky, with property 
valued at one million dollars, recently 
reverted to the state. 

Mennonites. 

The Mennonites are a Swiss Pro- 
testant sect, taking its name from its 
leader in Holland, Menno Simonis. 
They forbid shaving, the use of buttons 
on clothing, repudiate infant baptism, 
refuse to take oaths, to bear arms, and 
abhore law courts and civil office hold- 
ing. Non-resistance to violence is an 
important principle with them. Bap- 
tism of adults is retained, and the 
Lord's Supper, in which Jesus Christ 



OUR NON-CATHOLIC NEIGHBORS. 223 



is not believed to be really present. 
All of these views are not held by all 
of the twelve branches known in Amer- 
ica. The government is by deacons, 
elders and bishops. They favor regu- 
lar revivals in camp meetings in which 
exhortations take place. Impenitent 
sinners who refuse the exhortation are 
excommunicated. 

Mormons. 
The Mormons, "The Latter-Day 
Saints," were founded early in the 
nineteenth century by Joseph Smith, 
1823. Induced by a religious revival, 
according to his own statement, there 
came to him the revelation of an 
ancient record containing the fullness 
of the Gospel of Christ. His messen- 
ger of inspiration was called Moroni, 
who in life had been a prophet, the son 
of Mormon, the compiler of the record, 
which was to be found near Manches- 
ter, N. H. Joseph Smith received the 
record in 1827, he says, which proved 
to be a book of gold plates about six 
by eight inches and six inches thick. 
The outcome was the publishing of the 
Book of Mormon, by Smith in 1830, 
in which eleven witnesses claim to have 
seen the original plates. Three of these 
later declared their testimony to have 
been false, one of them being Cow- 
dery who was especially active in the 
early days of Mormonism. Smith and 
Cowdery were declared ordained with 
power to preach faith and repentance, 
to baptise by immersion, to administer 
the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, 
to lay on hands and to bestow the Holy 
Ghost. The Book of Mormon shared 
place with the Bible as the Word of 
God. Active in missionary work, and 



beginning in New York state, they pro- 
ceeded westward, working among the 
settlers, who became bitterly antagonis- 
tic to them, and among the Indians. 
Attempts at "Communal" settlements 
failed until the Salt Lake region was 
reached in 1847. Hostility towards the 
Mormons was provoked because of their 
teachings on the question of polygamy, 
or plural marriage. Congress prohib- 
ited this practice, and later Utah was 
received into the Union. Mormonism 
is claimed to prepare the people for the 
coming of the Lord, awaiting Him in 
the new Jerusalem. Officers in the 
church are elected, women voting with 
the men. There are twelve "apos- 
tles" in charge, a committee assisting. 
A presiding patriarch blesses the peo- 
ple, whose members in later years have 
been augmented by recruits made in 
England through a vigorous propa- 
ganda being carried on there. Mor- 
mons dream of a happy Millenium 
when the Savior will dwell and reign 
on earth in peace and happiness for one 
thousand years. They claim to believe 
in the Blessed Trinity, that Christ is 
the Son of God and that all men may be 
saved through the atonement of Christ, 
yet there is absolutely no spirituality 
among them. 

Dowieites. 

The Dowieites, a sect founded by 
John Alexander Dowie in 1896, are set- 
tled in a form of community life at 
Zion City, Illinois. This was a thriving 
little city in the last years of the found- 
er's life, and is a tribute to his wonder- 
ful personality, having been built and 
planned by himself almost unaided. 
Dowie professed to represent a second 



224 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



coming to earth of the prophet, Elias. 
He claimed the power of "divine heal- 
ing," conducting services in an enor- 
mous temple which he filled regularly. 
His teachings embraced the simple life. 
He forbade the use of tobacco and al- 
coholic liquors and encouraged some 
forms of community life. The different 
large buildings, the "hospice," and the 
factories erected by him, the homes 
made on land to which he surrendered 
only a restricted title are indications 
of the influence he exercised over his 
followers. He died while planning 
further developments in the South. 
His work was continued, under great 
difficulty by a lieutenant, Voliva, but 
the influence of the leader being gone, 
dissensions arose which have caused 
the steady decline of prosperity in the 
settlement. Secret societies were never 
tolerated in Zion, theaters were prohib- 
ited, the keeping of pigs and the use 
of swine flesh was forbidden. Dowie- 
ites believe in the Blessed Trinity, 
adore Jesus Christ and revere the 
Bible. Some refuse to acknowledge 
Voliva as General Overseer. 

Communists. 

Communistic Settlements, made by 
communistic religious societies of 
Europe came first to America in 1848, 
when Etienne Cabet settled at Icaria, 
Texas, moving later to Nauvoo, 111., and 
to Cheltenham, near St. Louis, and to 
southern Iowa. The Ephrata Com- 
munity of Pennsylvania was founded 
in 1732 by Beissel, but never exceeded 
three hundred in membership. The 
Shakers of Mt. Lebanon, N. Y., are 
described elsewhere. The Harmonists 



(Penn. 1805), and the Separatists 
(Ohio, 1818), the New Harmonists (In- 
diana, 1825), the Oneida colony (N. Y., 
1848) and about thirty or forty others 
were founded throughout the country 
with indifferent success for brief pe- 
riods of time. The Amana Community 
(Iowa, 1855), is the largest community 
in existence for any great length ...f 
time, numbering about eighteen hun- 
dred members, and living in apparent 
successful effort in their ideals. 

These societies were mostly religious 
in conviction and practices. Many of 
their founders were regarded as 
prophets. The bond of religion alone 
held them together, and the ascetic 
methods of living which they practiced 
helped very materially in their con- 
cord. Nearly all of them enjoined 
celibacy, or at least preferred it. They 
were selected men and women, who 
being filled with religious enthusiasm, 
were ready for the sacrifices demanded 
of them. Their aims and ideals were 
high. Their leaders were able men, 
magnetic and eloquent, all of which 
accounted for their varying and tem- 
porary success. (See article on Com- 
munism.) 

Moravians. 

The Moravians (Bohemian Breth- 
ren) were founded in Bohemia 1457, 
but disbanded later, to be reorganized 
about 1722. They place life before 
creeds, seeking to "exemplify the liv- 
ing church of Christ, consisting of re- 
generated men and women, while they 
afford a common meeting place for 
Christians who apprehend dogmas dif- 
ferently. ' ' Personal faith in the cruci- 




CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA. 



Top, National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception; lower, McMahon Hall typic 
of many university buildings, Washington. 



OUR NON-CATHOLIC NEIGHBORS. 225 



fied Savior is the only rule of Faith, 
but "nothing is positive as to mode of 
inspiration." Trinity, the Fall, Orig- 
inal Sin and Total Depravity are ad- 
mitted, but "discussion about them is 
shunned." Love-feasts are held, feet- 
washing is part of their service. 
Couples are selected for marriage by 
lot, and a general confession of sin is 
encouraged. 

They believe in Justification by 
Faith alone, prayer, sanctifying grace, 
Judgment, the Resurrection, Hell and 
Heaven, and the order of the ministry, 
■ — tenets which all Moravians must ac- 
cept. It is an outgrowth of the Hussites 
and the Lollards, which came to Amer- 
ica in 1734 . They are active and pro- 
gressive, conducting Sunday schools in 
two separate provinces, and especially 
active in foreign missions. 

Waldenses. 

The Waldenses take their name from 
Waldes, who lived about 1176, and 
sought a return to "primitive Chris- 
tianity." Their claims to origin in the 
days of the Apostles have been dis- 
proved. They profess poverty, and en- 
deavored to react against what they 
called "outward display and the splen- 
dor of churches." In time they grew 
to deny the doctrine of Purgatory, In- 
dulgences, Prayers for the dead and 
other teachings of the Church. They 
refused to take oaths, considered the 
shedding of blood unlawful and de- 
nounced lying as one of their principal 
tenets. Drifting farther and farther, 
they now are known as a distinctly 
protestant sect of the Calvinistic type. 
They recognize only two sacraments. 



Their government is congregational in 
character, being known in three dis- 
tinct settlements in America. 

The Salvation Army. 

Under this name has come to be 
known a religious organization founded 
in England in 1865 by Wm. Booth, 
known then as the Christian Mission. 
Booth was a Methodist clergyman who 
gave up a parish for the new effort. It 
was an attempt to bring religion into 
a shelter started in the slum district of 
a large city for the benefit of the poor. 
When it developed, in 1878, in other 
places, it became known as the Salva- 
tion Army, and its leader as ' ' General' ' 
Booth. Its design was to reach the 
poor and neglected classes by going 
into the districts where they lived, at- 
tracting attention by means of bands, 
processions, singing and shouting of 
prayers. Then, having drawn a crowd, 
they proceeded to the meeting-house, 
or "barracks," where their ideas of re- 
pentance, forgiveness and redemption 
were preached. The congregation is 
called a "corps," the preachers "of- 
ficers," the prayers, "knee-drills." 
Nothing further in religious teaching 
was advocated and these were made 
easy. Only to believe in Jesus was suf- 
ficient. The Sacraments were unnec- 
essary. Various philanthropic labors 
were started by Booth in England, 
which spread to this country, under 
the leadership of his sons and daugh- 
ters. Men and women were equally 
eligible for membership in an organiza- 
tion which was semi-military in its 
ideas. They wore a distictive uniform 
always, lived among the poor they set 



226 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



out to help and in many places set up 
houses for the relief of the poor and 
needy. Since the death of the old 
"General' the organization dwindled, 
although it recovered somewhat in pop- 
ular esteem through war services. Dis- 
sensions of leaders brought about a 
branch in this country, called the "Vol- 
unteers of America, ' ' organized by one 
of the younger Booths. 

The World and Its Religion, 
Numerically. 

The population of the entire world 
m computed at 1,730,000,000. Of this 
vast number there are about 400,000,- 
000 Roman and Greek Catholics, 170,- 
000,000 Protestants, 300,000,000 who 
practice Confucianism and Taoism, 
222,000,000 Mohammedans, 211,000,- 
000 Hindus, 158,000,000 believers in 
Animism, 138,000,000 Buddhists, 25,- 
000,000 Shintoists and 13,000,000 Ju- 
daists. Other religions are listed with 
about 16,000,000 believers. These are 
approximate figures, of course. 

The density of the population of the 
world may be gathered from the figures 
showing comparatively the residents of 
various continents. Asia is listed as 
containing 830,000,000 people; Africa, 
142,000,000; North America, 145,000,- 
000; South America, 63,000,000; 
Oceania, 64,000,000; Europe, 484,000,- 
000. There are 120 people to the square 
mile in Europe ; 2.31 in Oceania. There 
are 840,000,000 whites, 717,000,000 col- 
ored and 25,000,000 Indians and half- 
breeds. 

These figures were obtained from re- 
search by Our Sunday Visitor, from 
which weekly paper we also take the 



following facts concerning the mission 
activities conducted among the differ- 
ent nations : 

In the Catholic missions of the world 
there are at work (1922) 5,837 native 
missioners, 7,933 foreign missioners, 
5,270 lay brothers, 21,320 nuns, 24,524 
Catechists, 17,450 teachers — a total of 
82,334 persons. There are nearly 
2,000,000 pagans now under instruc- 
tion in the Catholic faith. 

The Growth of Churches in America. 

There is a Federal Council of 
Churches in this country which an- 
nually compiles figures on the progress 
of the churches. In the year 1915 it 
seems that the churches did not gain 
members in the same proportion as 
figures of the year previous might in- 
dicate (782,000). In 1915 only 653,000 
were added to the membership list of 
the churches. But if they seem disap- 
pointing, recall that the increase from 
1890 to 1915 represents an increase of 
91 per cent. It is a larger rate of in- 
crease than the population shows in 
the same length of time. 

Seven religious denominations in- 
creased at a rate greater than the aver- 
age. Roman Catholics increased 125 
per cent. Lutherans (Lutheran Synod- 
ical Conference) increased 130 per 
cent. The Lutheran General Synod 
increased 113 per cent. In these three 
cases immigration is set as a reason. 

The Southern Presbyterian (white) 
and the Southern Baptist (white) show 
an increase of from 111 to 113 per 
cent. And the Episcopalians increased 
96 per cent. All others showed in- 
crease, if any, less than 90 per cent. 



OUR NON-CATHOLIC NEIGHBORS. 227 



It is noteworthy that the Latter-Day 
Saints of Utah, seldom heard of, in- 
creased 77 per cent from 1890 to 1915. 
The list is as follows : 

Roman Catholics, 14,079,000; Meth- 
odists (16 bodies put together) 7,472,- 
000; Baptists (15 bodies) 6,307,000; 
Lutherans (21 bodies) 2,434,000; Pres- 
byterians (12 bodies) 2,104,000; Disci- 
ples of Christ (2 bodies) 1,522,000; 
Episcopalians, 1,051,000. 

Disproportion of Members and 
Influence. 

Checking up the above list one is as- 
tonished to see that the Disciples of 
Christ outnumber the Episcopalians. 
From their readiness in advertising, 
the frequent newspaper notices and 
from other sources one might judge 
that they were a ruling body in Amer- 
ica. The Christian Scientists also get 
enormous amount of attention from 
the world, yet they number only 85,- 
000. The Unitarians appear in the 
limelight so often, perhaps because of 
Billy Sunday and his advertising 
methods, yet they number only 70,542. 
The Quakers are very well known, yet 
they number only 120,000. And an- 
other strange conclusion is that 
Schwenkfeld, a German preacher, who 
disagreed with Luther as to the teach- 
ings about the same time in which 
Luther lived, and who has been forgot- 
ten in his own country for many years, 
having no followers there, has 1,043 in 
the United States. 

The figures given as to the Roman 
Catholic population do not of course 
agree with those compiled by the Cath- 



olic Directory which are given else- 
where in this volume. 

Religious Argument 

Under no circumstances is argument 
about religion advised. There are too 
many sins of anger and hatred entailed. 
By all means avoid argument on re- 
ligion. 

A Catholic, however, should be pre- 
pared always to give reasons for the 
Faith that is in him, that is when asked 
to do so. Frequently, well-disposed 
non-Catholics request explanation of 
some point of doctrine or practice. By 
all means should the information be 
forthcoming. It is well, however, to go 
no farther, lest the conversation de- 
velop into futile argument and its con- 
sequences. 

Answer Defamers. 

The Catholic layman, however, can 
render service to the Church by allow- 
ing no charge against her to pass un- 
challenged. Sometimes we permit a 
firebrand to show its wares, confident 
that the intelligent non-Catholic can 
see the vileness and worthlessness. We 
know, also, that most non-Catholics are 
convinced that these speakers and writ- 
ers treat Catholics "with shameful 
ignorance and unfairness." But when 
we endure insult silently and with pa- 
tience, some outside the fold may have 
a suspicion that we are unable to give 
a satisfactory answer. Due to environ- 
ment and education, to repetition of 
calumny, some non-Catholics may and 
do heed that type of preacher who rec- 
ognizes neither truth nor justice when 
treating of things Catholic. His only 



228 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



aim seems to be to arouse animosity and 
to perpetuate prejudices. And his con- 
fidence in the credulity of his audi- 
tors may be seen from his utter- 
ances, refuted a thousand times, and 
now only to be heard among the lowest 
grade of anti-Catholic polemics. Per- 
haps this kind of preacher craves notor- 
iety, but when he makes a specific 



charge or assails unjustly and falsely 
our organizations he should be taught 
as effectively as possible, that, though 
patient, we are not idiots. The law ha3 
no compassion on the libeller, and we 
should, when necessary, bring it into 
play to stop the turbid eloquence that 
seeks to discredit and to bemire us for 
the delectation of some fanatics. 



Bibliography. 

Parsons' Church History; Alzog's Church History; The Ref- 
ormation, Smyth; Catholic Belief, Searle; Dr. Meyrick Booth in 
Hibbcrt Journal; End of Controversy, Milner; Modernism, Mercier; 
Hundred Years of Irish History, O'Brien; Irish Sketches, Donovan; 
Is Schism Lawful, McGuire; Misrepresentations of History, a 
Sunday Visitor pamphlet; Luther, Von Hartman Grisar; Luther, 
Denifle; English History by a Catholic Teacher; Papal Decree, 
1915, and comment by America, N. Y. 



CHAPTER XI— Part 2. 



The Greek Church. 



While not classed as non-Catholics, 
in our consideration of the religious 
beliefs of our neighbors, still it may 
be well at this point to explain some- 
thing of the Greek Church and its 
different branches. 



Greece was distinctly a field for 
the labors of the Apostles, and, there- 
fore, can be ranked among the earli- 
est of the nations to embrace Chris- 
tianity. There are many evidences of 
St. Paul's work there and St. An- 
drew, too, is mentioned, although with 
less certainty. The Faith planted 
there flourished for many centuries, 
uninterruptedly, until about 1054, 
when a schism arose, fostered by de- 
signing men who played upon na- 
tional prejudices to suit their ends. 
Previous to this date trouble arose 
over the deposition of the Patriarch 
at Constantinople by the Emperor, 
and the usurpation of that rank by 
Photius. Knowing that his claim to 
the position would not be recognized 
by the Pope, Photius began to take 
up all the different points which had 
been the subject of enquiry and dis- 
cussion for many years in religious 
circles. Such points as the insertion 



of the word "filioque," in the Creed, 
the procession of the Holy Ghost 
"ab utroque," were typical of his 
trouble making. The world was di- 
vided at that time into the Greeks of 
the East, and the Latins of the Avest- 
ern known world, and naturally a 
difference of opinion would not lack 
adherents because of this fact. The 
Pope had just recognized the Franks 
as Emperors of the West, and this 
stirred up political circles. Many 
such features combined to create the 
breach which, in time, through the 
efforts of the Holy Fathers, was 
healed, in 901. 

In 1054 Michael Caerularius led a 
schism against the Church, using 
trifling points upon which to inflame 
the public fancy, fuch as celibacy, 
the use of unleavened bread, the 
wearing of beards and tonsure, all of 
them insignificant in comparison to 
the great issues involved, yet they 
served to again revive the old trouble 
This time no efforts on the part of 
the Pope could heal the difference, 
and the schism drifted throughout 
the East, spreading rapidly. And 
for many centuries the East has been 
almost entirely separate from the 



230 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



"West. Wars and other influences 
prevented an intermingling, with the 
result that the Eastern Churches were 
cut off from the parent establishment 
at Rome, even up to the present day. 

The Greek Orthodox Church. 

By the Eastern Churches are meant 
all not using the Latin rite. The 
Greek Church means all users of what 
is called the Byzantine rite, whether 
separate from or acknowledging the 
Holy Father. Those separated from 
the Church of Eome are called 
the Orthodox Greek Church. They 
claim to be a unit and to practice 
Christianity as found in the primitive 
Church of the Apostles. Yet they 
are really schismatic. They do not 
admit, among other dogmas of the 
Church, Papal Infallibility, the Im- 
maculate Conception and Purgatory. 
This Church has many divisions, and 
each one is ruled by its own Patri- 
arch, or President. There are the 
Pure Greeks, with headquarters at 
Constantinople ; the Arabian Byzan- 
tines at Antioch, Alexandria and Je- 
rusalem; the Orthodox Georgians, 
non-existent since the conquest by 
Russia; the Orthodox Slavs, with a 
Patriarch at Moscow, the largest di- 
vision, comprising about seventy 
million adherents, with branches in 
Servia, Montenegro, Bulgaria, and 
Bosnia; and the Orthodox Rumani- 
ans, ruled by a Synod. Altogether 
there are seventeen churches of dif- 
ferent languages and nations, held to- 
gether by a common rite, the Byzan- 
tine, with a vague and uncertain 
basis of doctrines, which are becom- 



ing more and more imbued with 
Protestant ideas. They number all 
told about one hundred million. 

The Greek Uniat Church. 

The other great division of the 
Greek Church is called the Uniat 
Greek Church, and includes all the 
churches of the Byzantine rite, which 
are in communion with the Church 
of Rome. This church differs but 
slightly from the Roman Catholic 
Church, and acknowledges the Holy 
Father as its head. The different 
churches are to be found, in Cap- 
padocia, where are the Pure Greeks, 
with their Patriarch at Constanti- 
nople ; the Italian Greeks, who settled 
centuries ago in Sicily, Calabria and 
Southern Italy; the Georgians, sub- 
jects of Russia, using the Armenian 
rite and with headquarters at Con- 
stantinople ; the Greek Arabs (Mel- 
chites), with patriarchs at Alexan- 
dria, Antioch and Jerusalem ; the 
Servians, who use the ancient Ru- 
thenian rite; the Bulgarians and the 
Rumanians, who use the Byzantine 
rite with services in their own lan- 
guage. 

The Uniat Churches were unknown 
in America until about 1880. Then 
came the Slavs of Austro-Hungary, 
bringing their rite with them (Ru- 
thenian). For some years they re- 
mained without services until greater 
numbers brought out their priests. 
The Slovaks, Ruthenians, Roumanians, 
Syrians, some Croatians, and some 
Italians in this country follow the 
practices of the Greek Uniat Churches. 
The Ruthenians are perhaps the more 



THE GREEK CHURCH. 



231 



numerous than the rest. They come 
from northern Hungary, Galicia and 
parts of Russia. The Ruthenian priest 
must be a great linguist, speaking 
as he does in some cases five differ- 
ent languages, Slovak, Ruthenian, 
Hungarian, German and Engl is ii. 
The language of the Mass is the an- 
cient Slavonic, authorized in 879 by 
the Pope. They use the Greek Lit- 
urgy as translated by Sts. Cyril and 
Methodius in 808. Their altar is sep- 
arated from the body of the church 
by a high partition, called the "icon- 
ostasis, " upon which sacred pictures 
are placed. The vestments of the 
priest, while alike in number and sig- 
nificance, differ in cut, the "chasuble" 
or outer vestment being shaped more 
like the "cope" that the priest wears 
at Benediction. Married men are ad- 
mitted to the priesthood in Europe, 
and those priests who are married 
when they come from Europe are 
recognized here. But those who are 
ordained in the Ruthenian rite in this 
country subscribe to all the conditions 
of the Roman Catholic Church. Con- 
firmation was administered immedi- 
ately after Baptism to infants, but this 
practice has been done away with, 
and it is now administered at the 
usual time. Bishops are and have 
been always unmarried. Organs are 
not used in the church. The Julian 
calendar is used in place of the Gre- 
gorian calendar in service almost 
everywhere else. Men and women 
occupy different sides of the church. 
They make the sign of the cross in re- 
verse order. In their practices they 
use a triple form cross. There are 



about one hundred and twenty priests 
serving in nearly one hundred and 
fifty churches in this country, with 
fifty parish schools. In northwestern 
Canada there is a large settlement 
of about fifty thousand Ruthenians 
and Galicians with five priests and 
one community of sisters working 
amongst them. This settlement has 
suffered by the attempts of non-Cath- 
olic denominations to simulate their 
forms of worship in the effort to win 
them over to non-Catholic membership. 

Various Branches. 

The Roumanian Greek Church fell 
away in the ninth century, and they 
were united again about the year 
1760 to the Roman Catholic Church. 
They number about forty-five thousand 
people in America, having four priests 
serving them in their own rite, which 
admits the offering of the Holy Sacri- 
fice in their own language. They began 
coming to the United States about the 
year 1900. 

The Syrians began to come about 
1886. They fell away with the Greek 
Churches of Constantinople in the 
ninth century, being known then as 
the "Melchites." They, too, came 
back to Rome about 1700. Their rite 
is the same as the other Greek Uniat 
Churches, except that the language 
of the Mass and the administration 
of the Sacraments is in Arabic. They 
number about ten thousand, having 
thirteen priests who visit the various 
congregations in their settlements. 

The Italian-Greeks, (Albanians) 
follow a Greek rite established in 
southern Italy and Sicily in the early 



232 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



centuries, by Greek navigators and 
traders. This, in the course of time, 
gradually changed to the Latin rite 
in all except the more remote settle- 
ments. More Greeks came about the 
yar 1450 fleeing from the persecution 
of the Turks, and permission was 
granted them to use their ancient 
rite, with Mass and services in 
Greek. Otherwise it is as in the Latin 
rite. Because of this many so-called 



Italian Catholics in the large cities 
of America are of the Greek rite. 
This explains, in part, their indiffer- 
ence to services in the Latin rite, 
which was all that was offered them 
here. They were neglected for a time 
until priests . of their rite could be 
brought out. The Albanians, who ap- 
pear so frequently in the press as ob- 
jects of persecution by the Turks, are 
of this rite. 



Paganism-- Ancient Forms Existing 
in Present Day 



It would be impossible to trace the 
history of the many forms of pagan- 
ism in the different countries into which 
it spread, or even to outline thor- 
oughly the existing forms in the world 
today, without going to greater 
length than the space of this work 
permits. No attempt, therefore, will 
be made to do more than offer an out- 
line of facts of possible interest con- 
cerning religious belief in China, 
India, Egypt, Japan and, though non- 
existent, the Druidism of ancient 
Britain. Added to this, although not 
classified as Paganistic, will be given 
a brief sketch of Mohammedanism, as 
necessary to convey an idea of the 
East as it is known today in religious 
circles. 

The Religions of China. 

It is stated that the Chinese form of 
religion came with the first tribe to 
settle within the limits of the present 
Chinese Empire. This is claimed for 
as early as 3000 B. C. Certainly his- 



tory proves that as early as 2698 B. C, 
the Chinese venerated Heaven, and 
the Manes, or Spirits of the Dead. 
The Supreme Being they called Sub- 
lime Heaven, Sublime Ruler, Heaven 
or Ruler. From this Sublime Heaven, 
according to their earlier ideas, which 
are in substance the same as those 
existing today, came existence, its 
preservation and its taking away. 
This Sublime Heaven is the Author of 
all laws and duties. He is the Judge 
of all men, rewarding and punishing 
them. The Emperor is His repre- 
sentative on earth, predestined by 
Him. Victims, ordinarily an ox, were, 
from time to time, immolated to Him 
in sacrifice. The smoke of large fires 
was considered as carrying aloft their 
communications to Heaven, and th?y 
worried as to whether the Ruler was 
pleased or displeased with them. 
They wished earnestly to know the 
ways of Heaven, looking for signs 
continually. The Spirits of the Dead, 



PAGANISM. 



233 



illustrious men of the nation, wore 
honored as protectors. There was a 
hazy belief that the soul survived, 
and for this reason a general worship 
was offered all the dead. Food, 
drink and certain stuffs was offered 
the dead in this worship. Addresses 
were made, songs sung, drums beaten, 
bells rung and an extensive ceremony 
performed. More than that, they be- 
lieved that their parents for instance, 
if dead, were punished by the wrong- 
doing of the living children, and, cor- 
respondingly pleased by the good per- 
formed. 

Fetishism. 

Fetishism was extensively prac- 
ticed, and sorcery promoted by the 
adherents to this form. The word 
" fetish" was probably first applied to 
idols and amulets made by hand and 
supposed to possess magical power. 
This form of\ worship was always 
quite common among the African 
races, and is no less ancient in the 
East. It was thought that the souls 
of the departed took possession of 
objects such as the ones used in ador- 
ation. The vital power belonging lo 
the object in no way constituted the 
attractive feature of the fetish, yet 
the spirit, supposed to dwell within, 
was in some way connected with it. 
It is this combination of an embodied 
spirit and the magic to be performed 
which constituted the fetish. The usual 
idea of protection to be gained from 
the use of the fetish is not evident in 
China, at least not to the extent car- 
ried on in Africa where it was used 
in so many different ways, in medi- 



cine, in business affairs, in every walk 
of life, used in fear and trembling be- 
cause of the dread visions conjured by 
those whose business it was to inspire 
such belief in the universal fetish. 

The Taoists. 

Taoism was the second of the three 
state religions of China. It was de- 
rived from the philosophical doctrines 
of Lao-tze. It is an exhibition of ways 
and methods of living, urged upon men 
as their idea of the highest and purest 
development of their nature. The 
word "Tao" means path or way, and 
is considered to have reference to the 
way of the universe. Lao-tze, its 
founder, was born in 604 B. C, al- 
though this fact is not established. He 
was reputed as a very wonderful per- 
son. Taoism conceives the earth as one 
large organism of powers and influ- 
ences, a living machine, the core of 
which is the Great Ultimate Principle 
comprising the two cosmic breaths or 
souls, known as the Yang and the Yin, 
of which Heaven and earth are the 
chief repositories. By co-operating 
these two influences produce all that 
exists. Some attributed the idea of two 
souls to man, the one called breath 
coming from the ethereal part of Cos- 
mos and separated from the body at 
death, to return whence it came ; the 
other coming from the terrestrial part 
of the universe and returning there 
after death. The abstract doctrines of 
Taoism suffered considerable change 
in course of time, yet, up to the last 
exercising influence everywhere. 
Witchcraft and superstitions, borrowed 
from their idea of Buddhism, were 



234 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



added. The office of high-priest 
descended from father to son because of 
the belief that the soul of Chang, a 
legendary being, who lived about the 
time of Christ, reputed to have attained 
immortality, was secured to the high- 
priest by the process of transmigration 
of souls today, the office of the high 
priest consists in using his magical art 
in frightening demons and in baffling 
diabolical influences of every sort. 
These are the wonder-workers. There 
is an inferior class of priests not so 
especially endowed. Their influence is 
considerable, having the direct favor 
of the government. In reality the chief 
difference between theirs and other 
forms of native religion is that they 
multiply the Supreme Being. 

The Suttees. 

As early as 678, and as some claim in 
589, there appeared certain cases of 
Sutteeism. Men, women, horses and 
chariots were sent into the other world 
with their dead master. This was an 
aggravation of the original Sutteeism, 
which, among the Hindus, meant self- 
immolation for the widow alone. It 
was entirely voluntary on her part, 
taking the form of self-destruction on 
the funeral pile of her deceased hus- 
band. The origin of such a horrid cus- 
tom was unknown. It was not com- 
manded in the sacred books of the Hin- 
dus, but they spoke of it as highly 
meritorius, and as a means of obtain- 
ing eternal happiness. In China this 
custom developed into the wholesale 
destruction of slaves, with sometimes 
the enforced destruction of the wife. 
Another development was that when- 



ever a good or bad fortune occurred to 
a family of rank, some faithful servant 
committed suicide in order to carry 
the news to the family ancestors in 
Hades. 

Confucius. 

Confucius is hailed as a wonderful 
philosopher who evolved a system of 
ethics, jurisprudence and education, 
from which was taken much that might 
be admired in the other systems that 
prevailed after this time, even in for- 
eign countries. He was a politician who 
lived about 500 B. C, who speculated 
on nothing, and even reproved all ab- 
stract speculation, all transcendental 
research. He wished to curb the abuses 
of government administration by na- 
tive princes, and to repulse the theories 
propounded by innovators of his time. 
He thought with the ancients and be- 
lieved with them. He believed in 
Heaven, in the Sublime Ruler, in a 
Providence, and he proved his faith 
both by word and deed. He held to the 
survival of the human soul, to belief in 
the Manes and in their worship, in 
transcendant beings whose presence 
influenced men to good, — in fact, he 
held to the primitive ideas of his coun- 
try, not attempting to refute any later 
theories, simply repelling their conclu- 
sions. He aimed at loyalty to his coun- 
try and at the well-being of the peo- 
ple. He detested arms and war, urging 
home and family devotion. Guarded 
instruction was given the people. Con- 
fucianism as well as Taoism, which 
grew up together side by side in China, 
must be refused the names of religion. 
They were political systems based on 
a little natural philosophy, one of 



PAGANISM. 



235 



which denied God theoretically, the 
other prescinded from Him in practice. 

Buddhism. 

Buddhism came to China in 65 A. D., 
from India, its birth-place. Not for 
some centuries did it exercise any in- 
fluence. Dissatisfaction with Con- 
fucianism in the seventeenth century 
turned the people to its consideration, 
and soon after, the whole northern part 
of China was covered with "pagodas,'' 
as their temples were called. Thous- 
ands of priests called "bonzes" spread 
everywhere, soon making Buddhism 
the official religion. The tenets and 
practices of Buddhism are considered 
elsewhere. 

Shintoism. 

Shintoism, although Japanese in 
origin, was known in China, coming in 
984. It was a mixture of fables whicii 
credit the imperial and noble families 
with descent from ancient mythological 
heroes and gods. It was supposed to be 
a revelation to the Japanese emperoi*, 
and, when introduced into his coun- 
try, it pleased the Chinese emperor so 
much, that, by decree, he declared an 
ancestor of his to have been none other 
than the Sublime Ruler of the ancient 
books. This became the state religion, 
but did not last. 

Confucius has been idolised for more 
than a thousand years. His works are 
held almost as sacred. His cult is insist- 
ed upon more than ever today, for rea- 
sons not so much religious as political. 
The emperor still sacrifices ot Heaven 
as did his ancestors of forty centuries 
ago. The cult of the dead is still as 
plainly superstitutious as ever. The 



moral teaching is vague and uncertain. 
Good and evil is not defined. The only 
incentive to do right in life is that of 
pleasing one's parents. 

The Religions of India. 
Brahmanism — Hinduism — Bud- 
dhism — Sutteeism — the Yogas. 

When the polytheistic conquerors of 
northern India settled there about 1500 
B. C, they had some vague form of re- 
ligion out of which later grew Brah- 
minism, sometimes called Hinduism. 
They worshipped many gods in the per- 
sonified forms of nature forces. Varuna 
was the chief god, maker and lord of 
everything. Surya, the sun-god, was 
the enemy of darkness, known as 
Pushan, Mitra, Savitar and Vishnu. 
Indra, the god of the air, sent rain. 
Rudra was god of thunder. Agni, the 
fire-god was a public benefactor. Soma 
was a god who presented them with 
an inebriating juice which warded off 
disease, gave strength and even immor- 
tality. Small mounds of earth or stones 
were made originally on which to offer 
sacrifices to the gods, to present them 
with strengthening food and in return 
to ask favors. Animals, fruits and veg- 
etables were common offerings. Hymns 
and prayers accompanied such sacri- 
fices, usually in charge of the priest :>r 
Brahmin, who would be called in by the 
householder to make sacrifice for him. 
Expression of sorrow for offences com- 
mitted, and requests for forgiveness 
were in order at such times. Devotion 
to dead relatives was a prominent ele- 
ment. Feast offerings to them were 
regularly made. In return they were 
expected to keep from harm those who 



236 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



so presented the offerings. The cow 
was held as sacred. Worship was given 
to trees and serpents. Certain formulae 
for healing the sick and driving off 
demons were in common use. Ordeals 
were used to detect guilt in offenders. 

Later the ceremonies of sacrifice be- 
came more elaborate. Temples were 
erected everywhere. The priests used 
many forms for the different sacrifices. 
Fees for such service were introduced. 
The presence of many priests made the 
ceremony sure to secure the desired 
end. Prayers and rites entered into 
the daily life of both priest and lay- 
man. Writings of the Vedas, or ancient 
gods of mythology, were recited daily. 
Other prayers followed. Many forms 
were used for purifying the body, such 
as baths, sprinkling, smearing with 
ashes, etc., all efficacious for remission 
of sin. Heaven was held as a reward 
for good, yet different fates were pre- 
dicted for the bad, varying according 
to the extent of guilt, from long periods 
of torture in Hell to rebirth into the 
world, under the form of animals, 
plants or men. Because of his belief 
laws were introduced to protect all 
such lower forms of life. Even insects 
could not be killed, water must be care- 
fully strained and every precaution 
used. Manual occupations which 
brought such forms of life into danger 
were discouraged — carppentry, basket- 
making, farming, etc. Ethical training 
was remarkably high. Temperance, 
chastity, truthfulness, obedience to par- 
ents and superiors and almsgiving were 
strongly inculcated. Polygamy was 
permitted as formerly, while divorce 
was also common. Yet cruelty to ani- 



mals, gambling and oppressive usury 
were condemned. Charity towards the 
sick and aged was in evidence. 

Castes. 

Class distinction was a prominent 
feature, the highest being the warrior, 
next the priest, then the farmer and 
lastly the servile class of conquered na- 
tives These developed into castes, that 
of the priest taking first place, and 
until later years every man was forced 
to live in the caste of his father, fol- 
lowing the same occupation, if any. 
Some attempt was made at education 
among the upper castes. Marriage was 
tolerated only among members of the 
same caste, although a secondary wife 
might be taken from a lower grade. 
The practice of the Suttee or self-im- 
molation of the wife on the funeral 
pile of her husband was urged in all 
such cases, on the promise of eternal 
salvation. 

There were great fasts preceding the 
great sacrifices on fixed days. Hermit 
life was known to both sexes. Asceti- 
cism was also practiced, but not to the 
extent of a later development, Bud- 
dhism. The Yogis, who lived by begging, 
submitted themselves to extraordinary 
lengths of fasting and mortification. 
Prom them comes the idea of concen- 
tration upon a fixed object, which they 
kept up for hours until their meaning- 
less stare lapsed into trance. 

The religious fancy of the people in 
later years created other gods to be as- 
sociated with the originals as sons or 
wives. Mythological stories of their 
adventures are common. Brahma, the 
personal god, is thus associated with 



PAGANISM. 



237 



Sivi and Vishnu. Krishna, another 
hero of the dim past, is mentioned iu 
many legends which bear a striking re- 
semblance to the story of the lift of 
Christ. This is explained as an at- 
tempt to borrow something from Chris- 
tian sources, since these stories did not 
originate until after the birth of 
Christ. 

Brahminism of Today. 

Today, the influence of Brahminism 
has weakened. The people have absorbed 
the grosser elements of low-grade pop- 
ular worship. The ascetics became 
fanatical in their zeal. The common 
people fell lower and lower into super- 
stition and even immorality. Caste 
distinction was broken down. Rites, 
common to different cults, have taken 
the place of the ancient forms, in tem- 
ples erected in later years to gods of 
popular fancy. About one hundred 
million people follow these divisions. 
About the same number follow the 
orthodox Brahminism. It was a na- 
tional religion, which never spread 
elsewhere, except in the form of Theos- 
ophy, known for a time in England and 
America. 

Buddhism. 

Buddhism was founded from Brah- 
minism. Buddha was the son of a na- 
tive prince, a petty rajah in Napal. 
He was ascetically inclined and spent 
years in severe self -mortification, fast- 
ing and discipline. His preaching in- 
cluded a deliverance from rebirth and 
the attainment of Nirvana. His follow- 
ers spread, unlike Brahminists, 
throughout the East, but today are 
found only in southern India, Nepal 



and Ceylon. Elsewhere, in northern 
India, China, wherever Buddhism 
spread, it is claimed that certain 
adaptations from the religious ideas of 
other systems have corrupted the orig- 
inal The northern India Buddhist 
worships Buddha as a supreme per- 
sonal deity. 

Primitive Buddhism was very like 
the pantheistic Vedanta teaching. 
From this came belief in Karma, by 
which the character of the present state 
in life is determined by the good or 
evil acts of a previous existence. There 
would be a constant series of these re- 
births, they believe, but life at best is 
misery and not worth living. Their 
idea practically amounted to fatalism. 
To obtain deliverance from rebirth, 
Buddhism taught that all forms of de- 
sire must be quenched, inducing a state 
of mind called Nirvana. Even the de- 
sire to preserve one 's existence must be 
done away with, as well as all thoughts 
of pleasure or comfort. Life was to be 
held in a state of calm repose, indiffer- 
ent to pain or pleasure. After death, 
Nirvana was to be realized more com- 
pletely, an eternally unconscious re- 
pose. Some thought this to mean com- 
plete annihilation, but the subject was 
declared by the teachers to be too com- 
plete a mystery to be certain on this 
point. To Buddhists, the ancient 
Vedas were real gods, but they, too, were 
subject to decay and rebirth. Buddha 
was the "perfect one," superior to the 
gods, having attained Nirvana. Wor- 
ship of the gods was tolerated. Heaven 
and its delights were explained to the 
people. Ascetic life was favored, 
bands of monks and nuns being or- 



238 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



ganized. They lived in communities. 
They were not to kill any living crea- 
ture, not to steal, not to lie, not to act 
unchastely, not to drink intoxicating 
liquors. They cultivated meekness and 
other ideas of virtue, yet, ignored God 
entirely. They avoided sin simply to 
avoid its consequences Their desire 
to attain Nirvana and its delights, so 
often pictured, lead logically to sui- 
cide. Married life was held as an in- 
ferior state, yet, entered into largely. 
Buddha himself was reputed to have 
had many wives. The present head of 
Buddhism, the king of Siam, maintains 
a harem. Class distinction was main- 
tained except in community life among 
the ascetics, so called. Estimates placo 
the number of Buddhists in the world 
as about four hundred and fifty mil- 
lions, but China and Japan Buddhists 
are incorrectly numbered. A more 
probable estimate is about one hundred 
million. Confined to narrow territorial 
limits, the spread of European civiliza- 
tion has brought about its decline, 
gradually checking its abuses 

Religions of Japan. 
Shintoism, Buddhism, Confucianism. 

Shintoism is properly speaking the 
religion of Japan. It is a mix- 
ture of nature worship and ven- 
eration of ancestors, with no code 
of morals and no dogmas. Its 
mythology speaks of five gods called 
Koto Amatsu-Kama. The first three 
are creators of the universe; the other 
two have no clearly defined line of ac- 
tion. There are seven generations of 
heavenly spirits, certain special crea- 
tors of Japan, and gods of water, rain, 



wind, thunder, etc. The goddess of the 
sun, long ago, sent her grandson to 
reign over Japan and he was the great- 
grandfather of the first emperor. 

The emperor is the high-priest, and 
more than that, the direct representa- 
tive, and a descendant of divinity. It 
is his duty to celebrate the worship of 
ancestor-gods and to offer intercession 
to them for his people. His palace was 
at first the only temple. Ablutions and 
purifications figured largely in the 
services. Gifts of the goddess, Ama- 
terasu, were kept in the first temple to 
be erected, and placed under the direct 
charge of a princess. 

When Buddhism came to Japan i?i 
552, it soon crowded out the primitive 
Shintoism, by adopting a system which 
combined happily the elements of both, 
called Rio-bu-Shinto. This remained 
in precarious existence until about the 
eighteenth century, when a reaction 
against foreign elements, (Buddhism 
the original, with some additions. Shin- 
and Confucianism) brought a return to 
toism now added several heroes, em- 
perors and famous men of Japan, 
the list of gods favored with adoration. 
Special honor was also paid spirits of 
dead soldiers who gave up their lives 
for the country. Temples were erected 
in their honor. Tablets containing the 
names of deceased parents and ances- 
tors are kept in places of honor in the 
homes. Lights are placed before them 
every day. Fragrant woods are 
burned at funerals. Salt is sprinkled 
on the mourners after returning from 
a funeral. Cemeteries are cared for as 
a religious duty. Cremation is per- 
mitted, but not insisted upon. 



PAGANISM. 



Confucianism, which first came to 
Japan in 285, continued a precarious 
existence until the seventeenth century. 
Its resemblance to Shintoism prevented 
its previous popularity. It became pop- 
ular with society about this time and 
exercised considerable influence, be- 
cause of its advocation by the learned 
men of the country. It has since 
dwindled away. 

Today, the emperor still acts as high- 
priest of Shintoism, celebrating on the 
national feasts. About nineteen million 
Japanese favor Shintoism. Twenty- 
nine million Buddhists live in Japan, 
following the decadent system which 
exists there. There was a fusion of 
both forms of religion, which has prac- 
tically ceased to exist. Marriage may 
be entered into at the age of seventeen 
for the man and fifteen for the woman. 
It is not a religious ceremony, nor do 
the laws of the country stipulate any- 
thing concerning it. The poorer classes 
follow popular customs, which consists 
in the exchange of cups of wine by the 
betrothed couple. 

The Religion of Egypt. 

Records of early Egyptian religious 
ideas are to be found, not in any writ- 
ten record, in book or manuscript form, 
similar to the Bible or the Koran, but 
in figured and inscribed monuments 
found in the temples and elsewhere. 
These, of course, are incomplete. Proba- 
bly there never existed a clear or com- 
plete system of religious views. The 
records probably refer to official wor- 
ship only, ignoring many others in pos- 
sible existence. By the Pantheon is 
understood such gods as were officially 



239 

worshiped. These exclude the spirits 
which were popularly supposed to ani- 
mate everything — stones, plants, ani- 
mals. With some spirits an animal was 
popularly associated, like the cat of 
Bast of Bubastes, or the bull with Ptah 
of Memphis. Certain animals were 
thus considered as sacred, and came to 
be regarded as incarnations of spirits, 
or, at least dwelling places of the Gods, 
about the nineteenth dynasty (1300 
B. C). 

Primitive Fetishism, which is still 
very common among the negro tribes 
of Africa (described in article on Chi- 
nese religions), was mitigated in later 
years, when the deities were supposed 
to reside in statues combining animal 
heaps with human figures. The gods 
and goddesses were supposed to be very 
like humans, eating and drinking and 
living in like manner. Each god had 
a wife and son also deified, making a 
Triad. There were gods of the dead, 
Osiris, for instance, who was originally 
a god of the living, and when killed by 
his brother, he became a god of the 
dead. There were gods in the sun and 
stars, who proved very popular, result- 
ing finally in a form of state religion. 
He is said to have been the sun-god. 
Other gods in time became associated 
with him in popular fancy. 

Animals. 

Animal fetishism existed throughout 
the early periods of Egyptian history 
in more or less mitigated form. The sun 
was considered first as a creator of the 
world, then as organizer of the world 
from eternally existing matter. Man 
was believed to be survived in death by 



240 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



a certain principle of life correspond- 
ing to our soul. Its nature, and the 
conditions on which the survival of this 
principle depended, are depicted oa 
monuments. It was to endure as long 
as the body, hence the importance of 
preservation of the body after death, 
which developed embalming, as a sa- 
cred function, to a high degree among 
the Egyptians, and suggested mum- 
mies, many of which exist today after 
so many years in excellent preservation. 
Ka, as their idea of the soul was called, 
must be prolonged in existence at any 
cost. Statues of the dead were some- 
times made, and enclosed in the stone 
coffins, to which the Ka might cling 
should the mummy ever be destroyed. 
For the use of the Ka, food supplies 
were invariably placed in the coffii, 
being renewed from time to time. 
"Weapons for defense, even toilet ar- 
ticles, were sometimes provided. Tombs 
were called the houses of the Ka. 

Like the Ka, the Ba inhabited the 
body in life, only to be set free to roam 
at will after death. They had a com- 
mon abode not unlike the Hades in 
which ancient Greeks believed. The 
deceased man's family was obliged to 
perform certain rites over the remains 
to secure for the Ka and Ba admission 
to this realm. Such rituals of the dead 
were very ancient. The Book of the 
Dead is the most ancient in Egyptian 
literature, receiving, of course, addi- 
tions from time to time. Piety toward 
the Gods was the highest development 
of virtue. Obedience to parents in life 
and their veneration after death were 
inculcated generally. Tranquility iu 
home life, peace in the home, were en- 



larged upon. It was, at best, only a sys- 
tem of ethical philosophy, in many re- 
spects inferior to other systems which 
prevailed elsewhere. 

Druidism (non-existent.) 

The religion of the ancient Britons, 
who were of the Celtic race, was that 
of Druidism, from their priests the 
Druids, who were also their physicians 
and law-givers. This form was common 
also to Gaul (Prance) and Germany. 
The Druids possessed some knowledge 
of geometry and natural philosphy in a 
crude form. They venerated the mis- 
tletoe when growing upon the oak, a 
tree which they likewise esteemed 
sacred. The high-priest was elected, 
holding office for life. Certain circles 
of large stones, in some places consist- 
ing of several rounds, are assumed to 
have constituted their places of wor- 
ship. Stonehenge in Wiltshire is the 
most celebrated in existence. The word 
and the institution are not Celtic in 
origin. Great honors were shown the 
priests, whose religious duties are not 
well denned, being rather of a social 
nature. No records of their religious 
lore has come down to us Their ritual 
was kept secret, their services always 
being held in wild places. Caesar, who 
wrote of them, says that "the principal 
point of their doctrine is that the soul 
does not die and that after death it 
passes from one body to another. ' ' The 
nature of this second life is not clear. 
Creek authors claim that the Druids 
borrowed their ideas from the Greek 
philosophers, using principally the doc- 
trines of Pythagoras. Human sacrifice 
has been imputed to them, and, if so, is 



MOHAMMEDANISM. 



241 



a relic of pre-Druidic customs. It is 
not certain that they had any gods of 
their own, nor that they introduced a 
new divinity into their religion, so 
called, unless it be Dispater, who, ac- 
cording to Caesar, was regarded by the 
Druids as the head of the nation. 
Caesar found them in Britain in 53, B. 
C, and there is evidence of existence 
from much earlier times. There is men- 
tion of women, known as Druidesses, 
but they were sorceresses of later date, 
when Druidism was not in existence. 
Civilization, which followed in the 
wake of the Roman armies under 
Caesar, brought about the decline of 
Druidism. 

Druids in Ireland. 

Records of Druidism in Ireland are 
obtained from Christian hagiograph- 
ers, and from casual references in epic 
literature. The priests appear as 
physicians, magicians, diviners and 
teachers, not as representatives of >» 
real religion. They were in the service 
of kings as magicians. They were bit- 
ter opponents of Christianity, retard- 
ing its spread because of the popular 
belief in their supernatural powers of 
prophecy and magic. Writers of the 
life of St. Patrick speak of the presence 
of Druids. The picture of St. Patrick 
speaking and explaining his mission to 
the king and his court on the hill of 
Tara shows the Druids. Their opposi- 
tion to Christianity was not because of 
any religious feeling, as much as be- 
cause of the loss of prestige which the 
adaptation of the new religion mea;;.t 
for them. Druidism is non-existent 
today. 



Mohammedanism. 

The religion of the Turks in Europe, 
of millions in Asia and Africa is called 
Mohammedanism. Mohammed, its 
founder, was born in 570, A. D., at 
Mecca, in Arabia. Preaching his re- 
ligious views in later life, his eloquence 
aroused to frenzy the fanatical zeal of 
thousands, who by force of arms over- 
came all opposition and took possession 
of the country. Later, they threatened 
Europe, until stayed by the activities 
of the Crusaders, expeditions of Chris- 
tian Europe, fitted out to recover the 
Holy Land held by the Mohammedans. 
The Moors in Spain gave trouble for 
years until finally expelled by force of 
arms. While driven from Europe, ex- 
cepting that part of Turkey which is 
in Europe, the followers of Mohammed 
still holds Palestine, the land made 
sacred by the life and death of our 
Redeemer. 

The Koran. 

The Koran, the sacred book of the 
Mohammedans is claimed to be the only 
reliable source of information on the 
leading events of Mohammed's life. It 
is supposed to contain revelations made 
to him, which concern right living. The 
tenets of his teaching are likewise found 
there. They are summed up in a single 
statement, "There is no God but the 
true God, and Mohammed is His 
prophet." This implies belief in the 
unity of God, in His Angels, in His 
Scriptures and His prophecies, as in- 
terpreted by Mohammed, in the Rcsur- 
rection and the Day of Judgment, in 
God's absolute decree and predetermi- 
nation both to good and evil. It im- 



242 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



plies, too, prayer, ablutions and purifi- 
cation, alms, fasting and pilgrim- 
ages to Mecca, the holy city. Moham- 
med was bitcerly opposed to the Trinity 
and to the Divine Sonship of Christ. 
In his work he numbers one hundred 
and twenty-four thousand prophets as 
sent from God, and three hundred and 
fifteen apostles. Among the prophets 
he numbers Adam, Noah, Abraham, 
Moses and Jesus. Among the Angels 
he includes Azrail, the Angel of death ; 
the Observers, who spy upon men's 
actions; the Travellers, who move 
about recording the number and enor- 
mity of man 's offenses, particularly the 
abuse of the name of God, as well its 
proper use. The chief devil is Iblis, 
and his assistants can afflict the bodies 
as well as the souls of men, although 
checked by Divine interference. There 
are also Jinns, or Genii, creatures of 
fire, able to eat, drink, live and die, 
some good, some bad. The torments of 
Hell and the pleasures of Heaven are 
sensual and crass. There are seven 
regions of Hell for different classes of 
people, the Faithful, as good Moham- 
medans are called, Christians and 
others. According to them, God has ab- 
solutely decreed and predetermined all 
good and evil. There is no such thing 
as the exercise of free will. Their belief 
on this point amounts to fatalism. 

Their daily prayers are five in num- 
ber, before sunrise, at midday, at four 
in the afternoon, at sunset, and shortly 
before midnight. Where necessary, the 
call to prayer is given by an official, 
called the Muezzin. Prayers are re- 
cited, always, while the face is turned 
to Mecca, the city of Mohammed. 



They must be preceded by wash- 
ing, otherwise, they are fruitless. 
Public prayer is made on Friday 
in the mosque. Only men at- 
tend this ceremony. Women seldom 
pray, even at home. Prayers for the 
dead are recommended. Fasting is pre- 
scribed for certain seasons and com- 
mended at other times. Once in a life- 
time every good Moslem must visit the 
holy city, Mecca. 

Idolatry, apostasy, false-witness 
against a brother Moslem, drinking of 
wine and other intoxicants, the eating 
of swine's flesh in particular, and of 
any other not directly killed for food 
are strictly forbidden. Religion and 
the state are not separated. Four law- 
ful wives are allowed at one time, whom 
the husband may divorce almost at will, 
although this was forbidden by Mo- 
hammned. Seclusion of wives was com- 
manded. Concubinage, said to have 
been common, is not in evidence today. 
Slavery is regarded as a necessity. Re- 
taliation for injuries is approved. Ab- 
stinence from work on Friday, the 
sacred day, is not commanded, yet at- 
tendance at public prayer is insisted 
upon. Subjects of the country, not 
Moslems, have few rights. 

The Dervishes. 

An interesting confraternity among 
the Mohammedans is that of the 
Dervishers. One branch called the 
whirling Dervishes perform astounding 
physicial exercises in their interpreta- 
tion of religion. They recite many 
thousands of pious ejeculations daily. 
About two hundred and twenty- three 
millions of Mohammedans exist at pres- 



MOHAMMEDANISM. 



243 



ent, of whom about three and one-half 
millions live in Europe. In America 
and Australia, through emigration, 
about seventy thousand have taken up 
their residences, all, however, with the 
earnest hope of one day returning to 
their native land. While considered 
in this section, for convenience, Mo- 
hammedanism cannot be considered a 
form of Paganism. 

Missions In Pagan Lands. 

"In the name of Benedict, I recom- 
mend that missions continue as the re- 
sponsibility of all, lest even a single 
soul be lost, owing to failure of any 
one to give help. Aid to missions is 
an obligation upon those enjoying the 
benefits of faith and grace, and who 
feel it their duty to procure for others 
the same benefits." — Pope Pius XI. 

There is more than a glimmer of 
dawn on the horizon of Catholic mis- 
sioners in all pagan lands. Our Holy 
Father, Pope Pius XI, has followed 
up the memorable encyclical Maximum 
Illud of Benedict XV with a new and 
highly important Motu Proprio. The 
purpose of this encyclical is the com- 
plete reorganization and a vastly 
stronger development of mission aid, 
says the Field Afar, organ of the 
Maryknoll, N. Y., Mission Society. 

"Thank God," we hear thousands 
of missioners say as a long sigh of re- 
lief escapes them, and we add — "M ay 
iheW hopes be soon realized!" No one 
who has not been in close touch with 
the conditions existing in the mission- 
ary world can realize the timeliness of 
the movement now being launched 
from the center cf Christendom. 



It is too long a story to tell here, 
but the fact stands that while the 
Catholic Church had an army of splen- 
did soldiers on the battle front of pa- 
gandom, it was not supplying that 
army with enough of the sinews of 
war. As a consequence, advantages 
that were yawning passed or fell to 
those who are not of the household of 
the Fakh, while men and women who 
had left all to serve the cause of Christ 
abroad were forced to stand still and 
even to withdraw, satisfied to offer 
their disappointment as the will of 
God. But how hard it must have been 
for these heroes of Christ to recognize 
the will of God, when they knew full 
well that if the home-lands' crumbs 
could be gathered from their fellow 
religionists, abundant means would be 
secured to carry on their campaign. 

We praise and glorify the martyrs 
and we cannot appreciate at too high 
a value their spirit, but the martyrs 
themselves, especially those who, after 
a short trial on the mission field, won 
their palms, would, we believe, urge us 
to sound more loudly still the praises 
of those who remained years in ex- 
ile, seemingly powerless to accomplish 
that for which they sacrificed all. And 
the pity of this situation was that it 
could have been relieved years ago. 

Mission Center In Rome 

The radical change which has now 
been affected by the action of Pope 
Pius XI is the transfer to Rome of the 
centre of the Church's great Mission 
Aid Society for the Propagation of the 
Faith. This society, until now cen- 
tered in France, lately commemorated 



244 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



its hundredth anniversary, an event 
which drew the attention and the 
praise of the Catholic world. 

The French Society for the Propa- 
gation of the Faith cannot be too 
highly appreciated and its place has 
been second to none among the organ- 
ized mission-aid agencies of the Cath- 
olic Church. Well-meaning friends of 
the society, and, at times, its own rep- 
resentatives in their glow of zeal and 
often in ignorance of actual condi- 
tions, have sometimes given a false im- 
pression that all Catholic missions to 
the heathen were sustained, even ade- 
quately, by this one society — and this 
statement is far from truth. The so- 
ciety has, however, given much and de- 
serves a great share of credit for what 
results have been secured in the past 



century. Besides, it has been a fine 
object lesson on the power of organi- 
zation and in the charitable service of 
a devoted Catholic laity. Pauline 
Jaricot, to whose good heart and 
Catholic vision the French Society 
owed its beginnings, should be ever 
lovingly and gratefully remembered. 

With the transfer to Rome, and the 
organization of a central council under 
propaganda and representative of sev- 
eral nations, this work for the propa- 
gation of the faith will doubtless take 
on new life. It will remove the ob- 
jection of nationalism and will make 
its appeal for the missions Catholic. 
It will be under the eyes of the Holy 
Father, whose strong desire will cer- 
tainly be noted. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Heresies Against Catholic Doctrine. 

Arians, Collyridians, Manichcans, Macedonians, Pelagians, Nestorians, Eutychi- 
ans, Semi-Pelagians, Monolhelites, Iconoclasts, Greek Schism, Bcrcngarians, Al- 
bigenses, Waldenses, Wickliff, Huss, Ullraquism, Anabaptists, Old Catholics, Luther, 
Modernism— The Y. M. C. A.— The Y. W. G. A.— Martin Luther— Life and Work— 
The Controversy — Spread of His Doctrines— Disintegration of His Following — 
father Grisar's Book — Reformation in England — Penal Laws — Reformation in Ire- 
land — Priest Hunters — Confiscation of Churches — Irish Martyrs. 



For information concerning the 
chief heresies against Catholic doc- 
trine, we print the following, largely 
taken from sources supplied or sug- 
gested by the Catholic Truth Socety: 

The "Arians," founded by Arius, an 
ambitious priest of Alexandria, who 
denied the divinity of our Lord, and 
said that He was not born of the 
Father, but made by Him; that He 
was not equal to, but inferior to the 
Father. Their heresy was condemned 
at the Council of Nice, a town in 
Bithynia, A. D., 325, under Pope St. 
Sylvester I. The Nicene Creed was 
drawn up at this Council. 

The " Colly vidians," an obscure 
sect in the sixth century which gave 
undue rank to the Blessed Virgin. 
They offered sacrifice to her and wor- 
shiped her. Denounced by St. Epiph- 
anius. 

The "Maniclieans," who taught 
that our Lord did not take to Himself 
a real body, but only the appearance 
of a body, something similar to what 
the angels assumed when they visited 
holy persons, as mentioned in Scrip- 



ture. They also said that there were 
two Gods, a good one and a bad one. 
These heresies commenced about A. 
D. 280, but were not heard of until 
after the sixth century. They were 
finally condemned in the fourth Lat- 
eran Council by Pope Innocent III, 
A. D. 1215, because of their reappear- 
ance in various forms. 

The "Macedonians" were founded 
by Macedonius who had usurped the 
see of Constantinople. He denied the 
Godhead of the Holy Ghost, and said 
that He was only a creature like the 
Angels, but of a higher order. This 
heresy was condemned at the First 
Council of Constantinople, A. D. 381, 
under Pope St. Damasus I. 

The "Pelagians," founded by 
Pelagius, a native of Britain. He de- 
nied the existence of original sin in 
the soul of man, and taught that with- 
out the aid of grace, man is perfectly 
able to fulfill the law of God. This 
heresy was condemned at a council of 
African Bishops held at Carthage, A. 
D. 416, the decision of the council be- 



246 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



ing confirmed by Pope St. Inno- 
cent I. 

The " Nestor ians" was founded by 
Nestorius, Bishop of Constantinople- 
He taught that there were two sepa- 
rate persons in our Lord, one the 
Son of God, and the other the Son of 
man ; and that the Blessed Virgin was 
not Mother of God, but only of the 
man Christ. This heresy was con- 
demned at the Council of Ephesus, 
A. D. 431, under Pope St. Celestine 
I. The latter part of the "Hail 
Mary" was then added: "Holy Mary, 
Mother cf God," etc. 

The " Eutychians," were founded by 
Eutyches, who taught that there was 
only one nature, the divine, in our 
Lord. Eutyches said that at the moment 
of the Incarnation the human nature 
was absorbed by, or changed into, the 
divine. This heresy was condemned at 
the Council of Chalcedon, A. D. 451, 
under Pope St. Leo, the Great. 

The "Semi-Pelagians" taught that 
the beginning of faith and first desire 
of virtue came from the powers of 
man alone, unassisted by divine grace. 
They also said that the grace of final 
perseverance can be merited by our 
own efforts, and is not a free gift of 
God. This heresy was first taught by 
some priests of Marseilles. It was 
condemned at the Second Council of 
Orange, A. D. 529, the decrees of the 
council being confirmed by Pope Bon ; 
face II. 

The "Monothelites" said that Jesus 
Christ had no separate human will, 
but only a divine one. They were 
condemned at the Third Council of 



Constantinople, A. D. 680, under Pope 
St. Agatho. 

The Iconoclasts, or breakers of 
holy images, rejected the use of holy 
images and pictures, and the prac- 
tice of paying them due respect. They 
were condemned at the Second Coun- 
cil of Nice, A. D. 787, under Pope' 
Adrian I. 

The Greek Heresy and Schism was 
commenced by Photius, who, though 
not a priest, took unjust possession of 
the See of Constantinople. This 
schism was consummated in A. D. 
1054, by Michael Cerularius, who 
broke entirely away from the suprem- 
acy of the Popes, and established 
what is called the "Greek Church." 
The Greeks say that the Holy Ghost 
proceeds from the Father alone, in- 
stead of from the Father and the Son, 
as taught by the Catholic Church 
from the beginning. Photius was de- 
posed and condemned at the Fourth 
Council of Constantinople, A. D. 870, 
under Pope Adrian II, and St. Igna- 
tius was restored to his See. 

The Heresy of Berengarius, who 
was Archdeacon of Angers. He said 
that the body and blood of our Lord 
are not really present in the Holy 
Eucharist, but only in figure. He was 
condemned at Rome, A. D. 1078. 

The Albigenses taught that there 
were two Gods and two Christs ; they 
condemned marriage, denied all the 
Sacraments and the Resurrection of 
the body. It was whilst he was preach- 
ing to these heretics that the devotion 
of the Rosary was revealed by the 
Blessed Virgin to St. Dominic. 

The Waldenses taught that it was 



HERESIES AGAINST DOCTRINE. 



247 



a heinous sin for a magistrate to con- 
demn to death for any crime ; that it 
was a mortal sin to take an oath, and 
that the clergy became reprobates by 
holding one farthing's worth of prop- 
erty. The Albigenses and Waldenses 
were condemned at the Third Lateran 
Council, under Pope Alexander III, 
A. D. 1179. 

The Heresy of Wyclif in England 
taught that the Pope is not the visible 
head of the Church; that Bishops 
have not pre-eminence over priests; 
that all ecclesiastical powers are 
either forfeited or are in abeyance 
during mortal sin ; that man is bound 
to sin ; that God approves of sin ; that 
confession is quite useless ; and that 
temporal princes should cut off the 
head of any ecclesiastic who sinned, 
etc. These doctrines were, after the 
death of Wyclif, preached by John 
Hus and his followers in the towns 
and villages of Bohemia. Condemned 
at the Council of Constance, A. D. 
1414. 

John Hus — The Hussites — Utraquism. 

John Hus was born in Bohemia in 
1369, and became interested in the 
teachings of Wyclif, helping to cir- 
culate them in his native country. 
After their condemnation, he contin- 
ued to preach the heretical doctrines 
and was excommunicated by the 
Church in 1410. 

The distinctive tenet of his follow- 
ers is seen in teaching the necessity 
of communion in both species for both 
priest and layman, hence the name 
attached to his followers, Utraquists, 
from the Latin word Utraque, mean- 



ing both. Hus never preached this, 
but it became the most prominent fea- 
ture of the teaching of those who 
called themselves his followers. The 
introduction of a lay chalice was re- 
garded as a schism in the church, yet 
the spread of the innovation was very 
rapid. Trouble arose within the king- 
dom, and religious feeling ran high, 
until by force of arms the clergy, who 
refused to admit the introduction of 
the teachings, were removed front 
their churches and Utraquist clergy in- 
stalled. In 1419, the king ordered 
the expulsion of all such interlopers 
and the return of the original clergy. 
Resort to arms followed, and the 
trouble makers went farther, reject- 
ing in time other teachings of the 
Church. 

Finally the Hussites became com- 
pletely masters of the country, and, 
involved in difficulties with Hungary, 
were defeated by the neighboring 
country in battle. Peace brought new 
arrangements, and the Utraquists set- 
tled down, side by side with the 
Church,/ in churches of their own. 
The king gave equal rights to both, 
and the results seem to justify the 
action. The Utraquists gradually re- 
turned to all Catholic teachings and 
practices, except the Communion in 
both species. In Reformation times, 
they successfully resisted the at- 
tempted inroads of the Lutherans, re- 
maining faithful to their practices. 

The Anabaptists. 

The Anabaptists were a radical 
body of social and ecclesiastical re- 
formers which originated in Saxony 



248 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



in 1521. The name denies infant 
baptism and is an old heresy under a 
different setting. They aimed, they 
said, to restore primitive Christianity 
in all its forms. They rejected oaths 
and capital punishment, held the Scrip- 
tures as the sole Rule of Faith, and 
proposed to found a new kingdom 
of God to reconstruct society. Com- 
munism including, for some of them, 
the community of women, was the un- 
derlying principle. They believed in 
private interpretation of the Scrip- 
tures and in inward teaching of the 
Holy Ghost, which led to their ex- 
treme views. They spread into other 
parts of Europe, but never reached 
America, except in the varied form 
known as Mennonites. 

The Old Catholics. 

The Old Catholics were a sect 
which refused to accept the dogma of 
the Infallibility of the Pope when 
solemnly defined. Their first Synod 
was held in 1874. The leader, Dr. Dol- 
linger of the University of Munich, 
celebrated for his literary labors, was 
excommunicated. He died in 1890 
without being reconciled. Professors 
from universities at Freiburg, Bres- 
lau, Prague, Munster and Bonn were 
prominent among the leaders of the 
movement. German bishops who pre- 
viously had opposed the doctrine, 
withdrew their opposition after the 
definition by the Church. The Old 
Catholics received the favor of the 
government and for a time flourished. 
They added to their opposition to the 
Holy Father, ideas about a married 
priesthood, a vernacular liturgy and 



made confession entirely voluntary. 
Their membership is confined to Ger- 
many and Austria and is gradually 
decreasing. 

The Heresy of Luther. 

Martin Luther was a monk of the Or- 
der of St. Augustine and professor in 
the University of Wittenberg. Pope Leo 
X having granted a plenary indul- 
gance, Luther first attacked the Do- 
minican monk who preached it, and 
then the doctrine of Indulgences it- 
self. He also taught that faith alone 
will save mankind; that the sacrifice 
of the Mass is an abomination ; that 
there is no necessity for confession; 
abstinence, fasting, or any mortifica- 
tion whatever. He said that priests 
might marry ; he denied the suprem- 
acy of the Pope ; he wrote against 
Purgatory, free-will and other articles 
of Christian belief. (See Part 2, 
Chap. 12.) 

Calvin, who is regarded as second 
only to Luther, was the founder of 
Presbyterianism. His chief strong- 
hold was Geneva. He taught, among 
other things, that God created men on 
purpose to damn the greater number 
of them ; that God is the author of all 
sin and that man has no free will. He 
denounced rot only the Pope, but 
bishops and priests also. 

At the Council of Trent, held from 
1545 to 1563, A. D., the heresies of 
Luther, Calvin and others were con- 
demned. The "Creed of Pope Pius 
IV" is grounded on the decisions of 
this council. 

Jansenism. 

The Jansenists, so called after their 
leader, Jansenius bishop of Ypre3, 



HERESIES AGAINST DOCTRINE. 249 



in Flanders, maintain that man 
was not free; that it was impossible 
to keep some of God's command- 
ments; that all good works of unbe- 
lievers are sin ; that God will punish 
us for not practicing virtues which 
are not in our power; that our Lord 
died only to save a few privileged 
souls, and not the whole human race. 
Two illustrious French Bishops, Bos- 
suet and Fenelon, defended the truth 
against these heretics. Christopher 
de Beaumont, Archbishop of Paris 
(1746-1781), was also a great cham- 
pion of the true faith, and by his vir- 
tues and labors did much to put down 
this heresy, which had already been 
condemned by Pope Urban VIII, A. D. 
1642, and by Pope Clement XI, A. D. 
1705. 

Modernism. 

The attention of the world was di- 
rected to this error in 1907 when Pope 
Piux X issued a decree condemning 
it. Beyond a limited territory it had 
not previously been heard of. And 
after the shock of denunciation had 
died away, Modernism died an easy 
death. Briefly, it was condemned for 
the following reasons: 

1. Modernism destroyed the ra- 
tional foundations of all religious 
faith and therefore the possibility of 
all religion, natural or revealed. 

2. It denied external revelation, 
that is, that God has communicated 
with man in external form. 

3. It held that truth taught by God 
is no more than speculative descrip- 
tion of feelings experienced by men. 



4. It rejected the Bible as a collec- 
tion of documents of no historic value 
when they relate supernatural and 
miraculous events. 

5. It taught that Christ, as a his- 
toric person, was a man and not God ; 
that the Godhead in Him was known 
by faith; that He was not always 
aware of the fact that He was God. 

6. It denies that the dogmiis o£ 
Faith came from God . 

7. It recognizes no church as 
founded by Jesus in person, but one 
grown up by force of circumstances. 

8. It claimed the Sacraments were 
not instituted by Christ personally. 

These are some of many points se- 
lected from the document of denun- 
ciation, pointing out that its teaching 
was in direct opposition to the teach- 
ing of Christ and His Church. 

The Y. M. C. A. 

The Young Men's Christian Asso- 
ciation is a Protestant organization, 
in which Catholics are admitted only 
as associate members. They have 
no voice in the management of its af- 
fairs and are not eligible to office. 
Catholics are only tolerated. Officials 
admit that the Y. M. C. A. is essen- 
tially a Protestant institution. Even 
an anti-Catholic spirit appears now 
and then in lectures, bubbling over 
with calumnies and lies, delivered in 
its halls and under its auspices. Cath- 
olic young men should not suffer 
themselves, therefore, to be duped by 
an organization for the sake of bodily 
advantage, a position or social stand- 
ing. Catholics possess the precious 



250 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



heritage of the Faith of nearly twenty- 
centuries. They belong to the grand- 
est organization the world ever wit- 
nessed. How far, then, is it beneath 
the dignity of a Catholic to forget the 
tradition of his Church, to disregard 
the precious jewel of Faith, unflinch- 
ingly held by the blood of his fore- 
fathers amidst the worst of persecu- 
tions, and to trample under foot all 
sense of honor by becoming a second- 
ary member of that Protestant or- 
ganization called the Y. M. C. A.? 

If any doubt of the sectarian char- 
acter of the Y. M. C. A. exists in the 
minds of Catholics, it will be expelled 
by the tabulated statements of Com- 
mission VII of the Protestant Panama 
Congress. The largest proportionate 
appropriations for Protestant mission 
work in Latin America, according to 
its official report, was made by the 
American Bible Society, the Southern 
Baptists, the Methodist Episcopal 
Church South and the Y. M. C. A. The 
latter has shown more zeal in a finan- 
cial way for Protestantizing Latin 
America than the Protestant Episco- 
pal, the Presbyterian and the Metho- 
dist Churches and other denomina- 
tions enumerated in the order of merit 
for their contributions to this cause. 
The status of the Y. M. C. A., there- 
fore, could not be more definitely de- 
termined than by this report. With 
such evidence before their eyes Cath- 
olics can have no excuses for continu- 
ing to delude themselves. 

The Y. W. C. A. 

The professed aim of the Young 
"Women's Christian Association is the 



moral, social, and intellectual well- 
being of young women. They are 
banded together to encourage thrift, 
purity, and to afford help in cases of 
sickness. The means adopted are 
evening classes, reading-rooms, gym- 
nasiums, holiday-homes, circulating 
libraries, total abstinence, saving 
funds, intelligence bureaus for secur- 
ing positions, and aid to travellers. 

Opportunities are afforded for in- 
struction in religious knowledge 
(Bible classes) and for common wor- 
ship, but attendance at these is not 
obligatory, nor a condition of mem- 
bership. These adjuncts are offered 
as opportunities for improvement. 

There is no restriction of member- 
ship or of the enjoyment of the bene- 
fits which the association offers. It 
takes the membership fee and offers 
the members in return athletic sports 
and other good things. But there is 
restriction in the management. Cath- 
olics are not eligible to managerial 
positions in any capacity. 

Giving due recognition to the esti- 
mable service rendered by the Y. W. 
C. A., it is an organization which few 
Catholics care to join. There are many 
who say no self-respecting Catholic 
should join such an association which, 
like the brother organization, the Y. 
M. C. A., debars Catholics from hold- 
ing office, and thus discriminates 
against such a large portion of our 
population. Perhaps the strongest 
reason is not to be found in this fact, 
which many consider as an insult, but 
in the non-Catholic influences every- 
where to be found working insidiously 



HERESIES AGAINST DOCTRINE. 251 



and all the more to be feared as a 
danger to Faith. 

Martin Luther. 
Hs Work and Influence. 

Martin Luther was born at Eisle- 
ben, Saxony, November 10, 1483. His 
father was a poor man who gave his 
son an elementary education in Mans 
feld. Here the boy's, Martin's, gifts 
were marked from the very first. He 
had a beautiful voice and attracted 
attention to his singing in the choir 
and on other occasions. At fourteen 
he entered the Franciscan high 
school at Magdeburg ; later he went 
to Eisenach, where his singing at- 
tracted the attention of a wealthy 
lady who assisted his further educa- 
tion. 

At first he went to Erfurt to study 
law, taking the degree of Master of 
Arts. He was known for his research 
into pagan philosophical works, yet 
he seems to have ignored the regular 
university course in Holy Scripture. 
During this time he developed strong 
religious leanings, being of an ardent 
and impulsive temperament. In the 
year 1505 he became much depressed 
by the sudden death of a very dear 
friend wh'le in his company. He en- 
dured a very great shock to his highly 
strung nervous system, and while it 
does not appear that previously he 
had considered the idea, yet suddenly 
he announced his intention of becom- 
ing a monk (1505), and at once en- 
tered the Augustinian monastery at 
Erfurt. 

His intellectual powers soon im- 
pressed his companions and his piety 



appears to have been sincere. He 
went through the customary dis- 
cipline and was ordained priest. His 
ability in teaching soon earned him a 
professorship at Wittenberg Univer- 
sity. Here his ability was so marked 
and his zeal so apparent that he was 
chosen to visit Rome on business of 
the Order. 

But at no time does Luther's mind 
seem to have been wholly at rest, nor 
were his convictions clear on certain 
doctrinal points. Only at this stage 
does he appear to have made a study 
of Holy Scriptures (1512). One author 
states that as early as 1515 he was de- 
nounced as a heretic. But his elo- 
quence in explanation seems to have 
set the minds of his hearers at rest. 
His mind was always big with proj- 
ects of various kind. He had made 
friends with some of the rulers of the 
country and with others rich and 
powerful, and he also aroused the ad- 
miration and enthusiasm of the or- 
dinary classes by means of his power- 
ful and eloquent discourses. 

About this time an effort was made 
by Pope Leo X to complete the 
Basilica of St. Peter's at Rome. Con- 
tributions were sought from the faith- 
ful everywhere. This found a wide- 
spread feeling of opposition in Ger- 
many. It is true that appeals of this 
kind had found such opposition be- 
fore. On this occasion, Luther took 
the lead among opponents of the sug- 
gestion and because of its popular 
disfavor, he soon found himself -i 
leader with great influence. Answers 
to his arguments, on the part of the 
person officially appointed to promul- 



252 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



gate the measure, only aroused 
Luther further. He replied with heat 
and haste and the controversy thus 
begun drifted farther away from the 
point at issue. Luther, particularly, 
struck farther and farther away from 
the doctrinal truths he had pre- 
viously taught. Yet he always pro- 
claimed that he was in perfect accord 
with the teachings of the Church. 

Perhaps none of the parties in this 
controversy realized the lengths to 
which it was drifting, until a court 
was appointed by "Rome to try the 
case, and convened at Augsberg, 
1518. Here Luther declared formally 
his reverence and obedience to "the 
Koman Church in every word or deed 
whether in time past, present or fu- 
ture." This was followed by a Bull 
explaining the true teaching of the 
Church on the point in controversy 
(Indulgences). A short time after, at 
a public discussion, in which lay peo- 
ple took a prominent part, held at 
Leipzig, questions were brought up, 
such as the condition of man after 
the fall, freewill, grace, penance, in- 
dulgences, primacy of the Church. 
Luther declared that the Pope had no 
more jurisdiction than the Arch- 
bishop of Magdeburg. Here, too, he 
openly gave expression to his doc- 
trine that faith alone, without good 
works, secures salvation. He denied 
free-will in man and the infallability 
of ecumenical councils. Later in re- 
sponse to others who condemned his 
utterances, he issued pamphlets in 
which he taught that the Bible was 
the only source of faith, exterior wor- 
ship was unnecessary, the Sacraments 



were profitless (which last contention 
he afterwards modified). Many other 
easy doctrines which appealed to the 
people because of their entire absence 
of restraint were presented, and at 
once they spread like wildfire. He ap- 
pealed strongly to the spirit, of na- 
tionality and greed. He urged th-j 
government to confiscate the property 
of the Church, to abolish feasts and 
holidays and to substitute the lan- 
guage of the country for Latin. 

In June, 1520, The Pope condemned 
Luther's teaching in a Bull specific- 
ally mentioning his errors. At the 
Diet of "Worms (1521), Luther re- 
fused to submit. Popular feeling fa- 
vored his utterances, and in time the 
country divided on the question. He 
so inflamed the people with his easy 
doctrines that they rose against the 
nobles. Luther was compelled to 
preach against those whom his doc- 
trines had so aroused, and for fear 
of losing his influence among the no- 
bles, he urged them to slay the poor 
peasants whom he now called "chil- 
dren of the devil." In 1525 he mar- 
ried Katherine von Bora, an ex-nun. 
He urged the adoption of a constitu- 
tion which gave each congregation 
complete control over its own ec- 
clesiastical discipline. Preachers were 
appointed by a committee of laymen. 
The head of the State became the 
head of the Church. The country be- 
ing at war, made it difficult for the 
emperor to discourage the spread of 
his views. 

At this time (1529) disputes arose 
among the Lutherans. Zwingli's figur- 
ative interpretation of the words 



HERESIES AGAINST DOCTRINE. 253 



"This is my Body" made trouble. 
Luther denounced him and to settle 
the difficulty invented the theory of 
"consubstantiation. " Having the 
support of some princes, Luther and 
Melanchthon advocated supporting 
their cause now called Protestantism, 
by force of arms — the subsequent 
warring being ended by the peace of 
Nuremberg, in a concession granted 
them by the emperor. Their adherents 
increased in numbers, but difficulties 
also increased. Philip of Hesse asked 
Luther to authorize him to marry a 
second wife, to commit bigamy, in 
fact, and fearful of losing the prince's 
assistance, the "Reformer" granted 
his request, in order "to provide for 
the welfare of his body and soul and 
to bring greater glory to God." 

Armed interference began in sev- 
eral places, and dissolution of his or- 
ganization continued. Luther, his 
health and spirit broken, expressed 
grave doubts of the efficacy of his 
work. "Since we began to preach our 
doctrine," he said in the pulpit at 
Wittenberg in 1532, "the world has 
grown daily worse, more impious and 
more shameless. Men are more im- 
pure, more avaricious and more re- 
pulsive, than of old under the Papacy. 
Peasants, nobles — men of all degrees 
— the highest as well as the loAvest, 
are alike slaves to avarice, drunken- 
ness, gluttony and impurity, given 
over to shameful excesses and abomin- 
able passions." "Let us go from this 
Sodom," he writes to Catherine in 
1545, quitting Wittenberg in disgust. 
He died at Eisleben in February, 1546. 



Owing to wars and internal dis- 
turbances, Lutheranism spread rap- 
idly, more so in some countries, of 
course, than in others. In some places, 
Lutheranism came to be supplanted 
by the work of other "reformers," as 
for instance that of Calvin in Hun- 
gary, and after the first few years, 
Lutheranism made no advance in ter- 
ritory. A government edict by the 
king of Prussia united the Lutherans, 
Zwinglians and Calvinists in what 
was called the "Evangelical Church," 
much to their disgust. This action 
caused the first emigration of Luther- 
ans to America in 1630. The Luther- 
ans in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway 
have preserved much more of the 
original Catholic doctrine and tradi- 
tions than have the German Luther- 
ans. The masses of the Lutheran 
population in Germany no longer at- 
tend church. There are about 40,- 
000,000 Lutherans in the world, about 
half being Germans. In the United 
States there are somewhat less than 
one million Lutheran communicants. 
This ordinarily would mean a popula- 
tion of from three to four millions. 

Father Grisar's Book. 

"What then remains of Luther?" 
asks the Protestant Theologian Braun 
after reading Denifle's "Luther und 
Luthertum" and Father Ilartman 
Grisar's (S. J.) "Luther." He saw 
that no one could be more courteous 
or more considerate than the last 
named author. "Every sentence care- 
fully documented," "The quiet and 
objective language of the book" are 
quotations from his remarks which, 



254 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



from his point of view, only make ii 
the more dangerous. Father Grisar 
quotes Protestant theologians and 
authorities in great number, and 
proves from their own writings that 
theirs is a dethroned hero. Luther 
speaks in this volume in his own per- 
son. There is not one misrepresenta- 
tion of fact, no attack upon Protes- 
tantism, s'mply an historical narrative 
which completely refutes the objec- 
tion that a Catholic is unable to write 
about Luther in a spirit of fairness. 

Luther in a letter to Queen Mary of 
Hungary, 1526, refers to some of his 
followers who would not rast content 
with following his example in reject- 
ing the Church, but proceeded farther 
and rejected some of his own pet doc- 
trines. "That pack," he says, "is 
never converted * * * * one or a few 
come back * * * the others remain in 
their curse and hold it to be a precious 
thing." 

The Reformation in England. 

England had been an integral part 
of the Church since A. D. 596, when 
St. Augustine and his forty monks 
arrived on the southeast coast, under 
instructions from Pope Gregory the 
Great. About the same time, some 
monks from Ireland began preach- 
ing in the northwest. Christianity 
gradually spread over the island. Its 
practice continued uninterruptedly 
until the days of Henry VIII. 

When first Luther preached his 
now doctrines, Henry VIII stoutly op- 
posed him. Because of a book written 
against Luther, Henry was rewarded 
by the Pope with the title "Defender 



of the Faith," which title, by the way, 
is still cherished by the non-Catholic 
kings of England, as one of their most 
valued possessions. Henry soon after 
quarrelled with the Pope, because the 
latter refused to grant him a divorce 
from his wife Catherine. By the Act 
of Supremacy, Henry declared him- 
self head of the Church in England, 
Cromwell his vicar-general, and made 
death the penalty for all who denied 
his supremacy. He disgraced Cardi- 
nal Wolsey, who, many think, wrote 
the book for which Henry took credit, 
and he placed Cranmer in his position 
of Archbishop of Canterbury. He 
put away his lawful wife, Catherine, 
and married Anne Boleyn, whom 
within a year he beheaded to marry 
another. Three more wives followed 
one another in quick succession, most 
of them through the easy method of 
divorce — murder. He took posses- 
sion of the monasteries, burned their 
books, murdered the monks. He 
squandered the revenues from Church 
property and his father's wealth in 
criminal pleasures, making by his 
cruelty the latter part of his reign a 
period of terror for the English 
people. 

His successors, Edward VI and 
Elizabeth, the first of a long line of 
anti-Catholic rulers, pulled down 
altars, churches and shr'nes, perse- 
cuted the Catholics and forced the 
nation by the aid of foreign mercena- 
ries to accept the new religion. The 
Book of Common Prayer was intro- 
duced at this time. 

For a long time the mass of the 
people remained true to the ancient 



HERESIES AGAINST DOCTRINE. 255 



Faith, and signified their disapproval 
of the violence of the "Reformers" 
by frequently taking up arms against 
them. But every effort was only made 
the excuse for further persecution — 
cruel, bloody, systematic and per- 
sistent — and Protestantism at last be- 
came the reb'gion of Eangland. The 
Thirty-nine articles were drawn up 
in their present form in 1562. Scotland 
became Presbyterian in the time of 
Queen Mary while that unfortunate 
lady was a prisoner in the hands of 
her cousin of England, Elizabeth, 
who caused her to be beheaded 
(1587). 

The Penal Laws. 

Laws made by Elizabeth and car- 
ried along further up to the time of 
George III, aimed directly at driving 
out the Catholic religion. Persons 
failing to comply with them incurred 
a penalty of some sort — fine, impris- 
onment, exile, death — hence the name 
penal laws. According to them 
Catholics could be fined for ab- 
senting themselves from Protestant 
service on Sunday — for attending 
their own — for acknowledging the 
Pope as their spiritual head. 

Catholic priests were declared out- 
laws, a price set upon their heads, 
and all who sheltered them made lia- 
ble to confiscation of property. 

Catholics were forbidden to teach. 
Catholic children could not obtain an 
education. Catholics could not be- 
come guardians of the'r own children, 
and if a child became Protestant, his 
parents at once lost legal control of 
property owned by them. 



Catholics could not purchase prop- 
erty, cou'd not hold a lease longer 
than thirty-one years, and if a Pro- 
testant found that the property of a 
Catholic yielded more profit than one- 
third of its lease value, he could take 
possession of it. 

Catholics could not hold office and 
could not vote. 

These laws relaxed gradually, 
from about the close of the reign of 
George II, (1760) and it is only fair 
to say that, at the present day, in no 
part of the world does Catholicity en- 
joy greater freedom than under the 
once bitterly intolerant British gov- 
ernment — although it is true that the 
spirit of anti-Catholic bigotry still 
prevailing in London prevented a 
great eucharistic procession there but 
a few years ago. 

The Oxford Movement. 

The Oxford movement began in 
England about 1850 and emphasized 
the desire for reunion on the part of 
those members of the Anglican 
Church who believed in the apostolic 
succession and that theirs was a sep- 
arate branch of the Roman Church. 
Again it drew into the Church the 
various denominations whose ances- 
tors had come out in the Reformation. 
This originated with J. H., afterwards 
Cardinal Newman. 

This movement followed a condi- 
tion of things in the English Church 
expressed by Lord Chatham, "We 
have a Popish Liturgy and Calvinistio 
articles," Fronde, the Protestant his- 
torian says, "It is historically certain 
that Elizabeth and her ministers in- 



256 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



tentionally framed the Church formu- 
las so as to enable everyone to use 
them, who would disclaim allegiance 
to the Pope." 

The writings of John Keble, schol- 
arly and beautiful, prepared the way. 
Froude in his scorn of the reformers 
continued, and Newman completed 
the work. Newman's early life showed 
great strength of character and bitter 
resentment against the narrowness of 
his religious horizon. "Oh, that thy 
creed were sound, thou Church of 
Rome," he cried. Cobbett and Froude 
had dethroned the Reformation 
heroes by their vigorous indictment. 
A great spiritual unrest followed. 
Disunion was everywhere felt, and 
Newman in his search for light drifted 
farther and farther away from his 
associates. His researches only con- 
firmed his doubts and the movement 
towards the light ended in Newman, 
Faber, Dalgairns, Oakely, Northcote, 
Ward, Seager, Morris and a host of 
others becoming Catholics. Manning 
became a convert later in 1851. The 
lectures and writings of Wiseman 
helped very much to allay stormy re- 
ligious outbreaks that followed this 
unusual movement towards the 
Church, a steady stream of converts 
following in the wake of this stream 
of souls returning to the faith of their 
fathers. 

Reformation's Effect on Ireland. 

If ever a country was made desolate 
by the burning, fanatical zeal of peo- 
ple who sought to force their own 
views upon their neighbors, it was 
Ireland. No man can speak or write 



the history of this bloody persecution 
without feeling keenly the recollec- 
tion of wrongs, of cruel and persistent 
violence used for generations to 
stamp out religion from the hearts of 
faithful people. Spencer, the poet, a 
Protestant, one of those who obtained 
confiscated property after one of the 
uprisings in Ireland, says that the 
people were forced even to eat car- 
rion; "they spake like ghosts crying 
out of their graves." 

Persecutions. 

Darcy McGee says no one could 
help seeing that under pretense of 
suppressing rebellion the war was di- 
rected against the Catholic religion. 
The Archbishop of Cashel was tied to 
a tree in Stephen's Green, Dublin, his 
clothing, even his body saturated with 
oil and alcohol. Alternately they 
lighted and quenched the flames 
which enveloped him, prolonging his 
tortures for four days. Four Archbish- 
ops and ten bishops are recorded as 
martyrs. Hundreds of priests, whose 
names are entered elsewhere in this 
volume, were taken and tortured to 
death in various ways. 

Priest Hunters. 

Priest hunting became a pastime. 
A scale of prices was set, and the 
priest most hated by the English be- 
came most loved by the Irish. Every 
effort that malignity and hatred could 
suggest was made with the idea in 
mind that the loss of the Catholic re- 
ligion could make the Irishman less 
Irish and more amenable to the 
changes being forced upon him. But 



GRAND OLD MEN IN THE CHURCH. 



Cardinal Mercier, Belgium, taken with Cardinal Gibbons, Baltimore, on the 
occasion of his visit to America after the war. 



HERESIES AGAINST DOCTRINE. 257 



the words Irish and Catholic remained 
synonymous, and hence the curse of 
religious antagonism which for cen- 
turies drenched the country in blood. 
The Irishman remained through 
these centuries devotedly faithful. He 
had to lie hid in caves while the 
usurper sat in the state church, 
usually a confiscated building, built 
by his own people. He felt through 
bitter experience that any attempt, 
even in argument, to change his faith 
was the act of a spy to persuade a 
soldier to desert his flag. 

Confiscation of Churches. 
Protestantism represented to the 
Irishman the authority which had 
oppressed his fellow countrymen for 
ages, and hunted them for being Cath- 
olics and had hanged them for being 
Irish, and the State Church in Ireland 
remained to the Catholic Irishman a 
sign of defeat and oppression. The 
positive hostility to the State Church 
diminished in time as the penal laws 
mentioned above relaxed. The armed 
military force with its accompanying 
bloodshed ceased to come for collec- 
tion of the tithes demanded for the 
support of the parson, and the Irish- 
man ceased at the same time to 
trouble about it. Sydney Smith 
describes the Sunday of his day 
in Ireland: "The bell of a neat 
parish church often calls only the 
parson and an occasional conformist 
clerk ; while two hundred yards off a 
thousand Catholics are huddled to- 
gether in a miserable hovel pelted by 
all the storms of heaven. This condi- 
tion prevailed until the Disestablish- 
ment. 



Later Changes. 

Needless to say, after this period, the 
miserable hovel soon gave way to a 
handsome church. Some of the penal 
laws remained even up to our own 
day, while their effect is even yet felt 
thioughout the country. Almost the 
first to help the oppressed Catholics 
were the enlightened Protestant set- 
tlers who became disgusted with the 
inhumanities practiced. Flood, Grat- 
tan and Curran are illustrious exam- 
ples. The tide of toleration and re- 
ligious equality, once having set in, 
flowed onward with steady measured 
movement. The Catholic cause gradu- 
ally improved until it received its 
triumph in the Catholic Emancipa- 
tion bill under Daniel O'Connell in 
1829. 

Irish Martyrs Under Penal Laws. 

Interest in the Beatification of Oli- 
ver Plunkett, archbishop of Armagh 
and Primate of Ireland, martyred in 
1681, which took place in Kome in 
May, 1920, recalls the fact that there 
were many others who gave their lives 
for the faith in Ireland during the 
persecution period. Blessed Oliver 
Plunkett is only the first of a large 
number, whose cause is on the way 
of consideration. 

On March 16th, 1915, a papal de- 
cree was published in Rome under the 
above title, concerning the "Beatifica- 
tion or Declaration of Martyrdom" of 
over three hundred Irish men and 
women. This decree declared that 
the Commission for the Introduction 
of the Beatification of 259 Servants 
of God should be instituted. This was 



258 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



ratified by the Holy Father. The 
others are in course of consideration. 

Archbishops and Bishops. 

Four archbishops head the list, 
Dermot 'Hurley, Cashel; Eichard 
Creagh, Edmund MacGauren, Ar- 
magh; Malachy O'Queely, Tuam. 
Ten bishops, Terence and Murrough 
O'Brien of Emly; Redmond 'Gal- 
lagher, Derry; Edmond Dongan, 
Conor O'Lavany, Down; Owen Mc- 
Egan, Boetius Egan, Ross. ; Wm. 
Walsh, Meath ; Patrick Healy, Mayo ; 
Heber MacMahon, Clogher, follow in 
order. 

The classification of secular and re- 
ligious order clergy, laymen and 
women follows the order set forth in 
the decree : 

Secular Clergy. 

Eugene Cronin, Lawrence 'Moore, 
Richard French, Aeneas Power, John 
'Grady, Maurice O 'Kenraughty, An- 
drew Stritch, Bernard Moriarty, John 
Stephens, Walter Tiernan, George 
Power, Vicar General; John Walsh, 
Vicar General; Nicholas Young, 
Daniel 'Moloney, Donough 'Cro- 
nin, cleric ; John 'Kelly, Brian 
Murchertagh, Donough 'Falvey, 
Bernard O'Carolan, Donatus Mac- 
Cried, Patrick 'Derry, John Lune, 
Patrick 'Loughran, Ludovicus 
O'Laverty, Philip Cleary, Henry 
White, Theobald Stapleton, Edward 
Stapleton, Thomas Morrisey, Thomas 
Bath, Roger Ormilius, Hugh Carrigi, 
Bernard Fitzpatrick; Daniel Delaney, 
Daniel O'Brien, James Morchu and 
James O'Hegarty. 



Religious Orders. 

Order of Premonstratensians : John 
Kieran of Mulcheran. Order of Cis- 
tercians: Galasius O'Cullenan, Nich- 
olas Fitzgerald, the prior and his 
companion members of Holy Saviour; 
Patrick O'Connor, Malachy O'Con- 
nor, the Abbot and Monks of the Mon- 
astery of Magia; Eugene 'Gallagher. 
Bernard O'Trevir, James Eustace, 
Malachy Shiel, Edmund Mulligan and 
Luke Bergni. Order of Preacherss P. 
MacFerge with his companions, thir- 
ty-two religious of the Monastery of 
Londonderry ; John 'Luin, Wm. 
MacGollen, Peter O'Higgins, Cormac 
MacEgan, Raymond Keogh, Richard 
Barry, John O'Flaverty, Gerald Fitz- 
gerald, David Fox, Donald O'Neagh- 
ten, James O'Reilly, Dominick Dillon, 
Richard Overton, Stephen Petit, Pe- 
ter Costello, William Lynch, Myles 
McGrath, Laurence O'Ferral, Bernard 
O'Ferral, Ambrose Aeneas O'Cahill, 
Edmund O'Beirne, James Woulf, 
Vincent G. Dillon, James Moran, 
Donatus Niger, William O'Con- 
nor, Thomas O'Higgins, John O'Cul- 
len, David Roche, Bernard O 'Kelly, 
Thaddeus Moriarty, Hugh MacGoill, 
Raymond 'Moore, Felix O'Connor, 
John Keating, Clement O'Callaghan, 
Daniel MacDonald, Felix MacDonald 
and Dominick MacEgan. Order of St. 
Francis: Conor Macuarta, Roger 
Congaill, Fergallus Ward, Edmund 
Fitzsimon, Donough O'Rourke, John 
O'Louchran, Cornelius O'Rorke, 
Thaddeus or Thomas O'Daly John 
O'Dowd, Daniel O'Neilan, Philip 
OLea, Maurice O'Scanlon, Daniel 



HERESIES AGAINST DOCTRINE. 259 



Himrecan, Charles MacGoran, Roger 
O'Donnelian, Peter O'Quillan, Pat- 
rick O'Kenna, James Pillauns, Roger 
O'Hanlon, Phelin O'Hara, Henry 
Delahoyde, Thaddeus O'Meran, John 
O'Day, Donatus 'Hurley, John 
Cornelius, Dermitius 'Mulroney, 
Brother Thomas and his companion, 
John O'Molloy, Cornelius 'Dough- 
erty, Galridius O'Farrel, Thaddeus 
'Boyle, Patricius 'Brady, Mattheus 
O'Leyn, Terence Magennis, Lochlonin 
Mac O'Cadha, Magnus O'Fodhry, 
Thomas Fitzgerald, John Honan, John 
Cathan, Francis O'Mahoney, Hilary 
Conroy, Christopher Dunleavey, Rich- 
ard Butler, James Saul, Bernard 
O'Horumley, Richard Synott, John 
Esmond, Paulinus Synott, Raymund 
Stafford, Peter Stafford, Didacus 
Cheevers, Joseph Rochford, Eugene 
O'Leman, Francis Fitzgerald, An- 
thony Museaus, Walter de Wal- 
lis, Nicholas, Jeremiah de Nerihiny, 
Thaddeus 'Caraghy, William 
Hickey, Roger O'Mara, Hugh Mac- 
Keon, Daniel Clanchy, Neilan Lough- 
ran, Anthony O'Farrel, Antony 
Broder, Eugene O'Cahan, John Feral!, 
Bonaventure de Burgo, John Kearney 
and Bernard Conneaus. Order of St. 
Augustine: Thaddeus O'Connel, Aus- 
tin Higgins, Peter Taaffe, William 
Tirrey, Donatus 'Kennedy, Donatus 
Serenan, Fulgentius Jordan, Raymond 
O'Malley, Thomas Tullis and Thomas 
Deir. Carmelite Orders: Thomas 
Acquinas of Jesus, Angelus of St. 
Joseph, and Peter of the Mother of God. 
Order of the Blessed Trinity : Cornelius 
O'Connor and Eugene O'Daly. Society 
of Jesus : Edmund MacDaniell, Dom- 



inick O'Collines, William Boyton, Rob- 
ert Netterville and John Bath. 
Laymen and Noblemen. 
William Walsh, Oliver Plunkett, 
Daniel Sutton, John Sutton, Robert 
Sherlock, Matthew Lamport, Robert 
Myler, Christopher Roche, Edward 
Cheevers, John O'Lahy, Patrick Cana- 
van, Patrick Hayes, Daniel O Hannan, 
Maurice Eustace, Robert Fitfigerald, 
Walter Eustace, Thomas Eustace, 
Christopher Eustace, William Wogau, 
Walter Aylmer, Thaddeus Clancy, 
Peter Meyler, Michael Fitzsimmons, 
Patrick Browne, Thomas MacCreith, 
John de Burgo, Brian O'Neill, Arthur 
O'Neil, Roderich O'Kane, Alexander 
MaeSorley, Francis Tailler, Hugh Mac- 
Mahon, Cornelius MacGuire, Donatus 
O'Brien, James O'Brien, Bernard 
O'Brien, Daniel O'Brien, Dominich 
Fanning, Deniel 'Higgins, Thomas 
Stritch, Louis O'Farrell, Gaefridius 
Galway, Patrick Purcell, Theobold de 
Burgo, Gaefridius Baronius, Thaddius, 
O'Connor, John O'Connor, Bernard 
MacBriody, Felix O'Neill, Edward 
Butler. 

Women Martyrs. 

Eleanor Birmingham, Elizabeth 
Kearney, Marguerite de Cashel, Brigid 
Darey, Honoria de Burgo, Honoria Ma- 
gan. 

Non- Catholic Tourists. 

Mistaken ideas about the state of 
religion in Catholic countries are 
quite freely presented to well-dis- 
posed non-Catholics. Those who travel 
extensively abroad frequently meet 
a condition which offers them much 
misinformation. It is the result of 



260 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



crafty notions which guides in strange 
places often possess. 

It seems that those who make it a 
business to guide tourists in foreign 
lands are very acute in their obser- 
vation. They are quick to size up 
their party. Very soon the strangers' 
weakness is apparent. With guile 
and stratagem the guide soon learns 
many things. 

This is especially true of people 
who tour Catholic countries with 
wrong ideas of Catholic life. Having 
been told since infancy of depravity 
and ignorance among Catholic people, 
of the oppression and greed of 
priests, they are eager to see ex- 
amples for themselves. They become 
easy prey for the avaricious guides 
who believe in letting tourists see 
just what they expect to see. 

The other day we read some jottings 
of a tour by a pious individual who 
represented a missionary society. To 
judge by his remarks, we may con- 
elude that writing about the Church 
is one of his hobbies. But it is always 
well when one is going to ride a 
hobby to choose one that does not 
buck. This clerical tourist saw many 
things which provoked him to anger 
and vituperation. He saw signs of 
degradation and decay, and then with 
skill worthy of a Sherlock Holmes, 
traced it to Home. He sets his stage, 



peoples it with apparitions vague and 
intangible, and surveys it complacent- 
ly and raves about priestly tyranny 
and true religion of which he is the 
exponent. He croons pathetically 
whenever he sees a native kneeling 
before a shrine. "Blind idolatry," 
quotes the tourist, and his very heart 
developed in some two by three town, 
exudes sincerest sympathy. He ought 
to know that, according to Dr. Schaff, 
the charge of idolatry is "a colossal 
slander on the oldest and largest 
Church in Christendom." 

But between Dr. Schaff, a scholar 
and a tourist, and an ignorant ranter 
there is a gulf unbridgeable. And be- 
tween the tourist, who sees all things 
through the glasses of prejudice, and 
the one who views them with cultured 
vision, there is no comparison what- 
soever. Carrol D. Wright, to mention 
but one of this type, says in "Letters 
from Abroad:" "When I see an ig- 
norant worshiper kneeling in prayer- 
ful attitude before an image, how- 
ever crude, I come to the conclusion 
that there is the evidence of a divine 
inspiration. It has been through the 
innumerable representations of the 
Madonna, as brought out in the most 
common forms as well as the master- 
pieces of creative art, that religion has 
received in many lands its most stim- 
ulating influence." 



Bibliography. 

Parson's Church History; Christian Denominations, Krull; Our 
Sunday Visitor, editorial; Series of articles, New World, Chicago, 
1921; Cobbett's History of the Protestant Reformation; Catholic 
Encyclopedia: Short Answers to Common Objections Against 
Religion, Lambert; What Catholics Do Not Believe, Ryan; Catbolic 
Dictionary, Addis-Arnold; History of Religions, Martingale; World 
Almanac; other works quoted in context. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



Present Day Altitude Towards 
the Church. 

The History of Bigotry in America— Religious Jealousy? — Different Waves of 
Bigotry— After-War Effects— The Know Nothings— The A. P. A.— The Ku Klux 
Klan — Evangelical Protestant Society — Defence of Religion and Truth — Commis- 
sion on Religious Prejudices by K. of C. — Recommendations to Promote Harmony 
and Good Will — Review of Anti-Catholic Societies — The Anti-Catholic Press — 
Speakers and Methods — Running Down Their Lies — Champions of the Truth — 
What Informed Non-Catholics Say — Clergy, Statesmen. Authors and Magazines. 
— Cash for Proof of Old Charges — Proselyting— Bigotry a Blessing. 



The History of Bigotry. 

In every age the Church has been 
persecuted. The blood of Christian 
martyrs has stained all the centuries of 
the Church's existence. Prisons still 
exist where priests and bishops of olden 
time were incarcerated. Every city of 
Christendom has its record of Catholic 
devotion written upon its walls. In 
some cases there is reported the whole- 
sale expulsion of Catholic people from 
the land of their fathers, while in 
others the persecutions were so suc- 
cessful that there were very few left to 
be deported. These attacks were of long 
duration, but they were directed in the 
open. However fierce and deadly the 
attack, it was nearly always the work 
of men who fought in this, as in other 
ways, openly and above board. In many 
cases they were men who thought that 
they were doing right, that theirs was 
the work of God. They were sincere in 
their fanatical zeal. The excesses into 



which it lead them were common to 
their type. Too often Catholics them- 
selves were guilty. But the steady ac- 
tion of Christianity has in time lessened 
all this. With each generation such at- 
tacks have diminished. 

In place of the old fanaticism ha3 
come something not so bloody, yet more 
degrading, not as successful but more 
insidious, — the promotion of falsehood 
and calumny against Catholic teaching 
and practices, Catholic people, the 
priests and the sisters. Downright 
blasphemies against sacramental life 
are perpetrated. Old lies are revamped 
and retold. Slight elements of truth 
are magnified and distorted. Every 
evidence of human frailty in Catholics 
is spread broadcast as example of 
Catholic doctrine in universal prac- 
tice. The Church is condemned for the 
action of some member unworthy even 
of the name, if indeed he be so in real- 
ity. Crime in the lives of people long 



262 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



dead is written up as of present day 
experience. 

Religious Jealousy. 
Why is all this done? Archbishop 
Glennon of St. Louis, in an address on 
the subject, sums up possible reasons. 
First, it is a form of religious jealousy, 
which in certain people cannot tolerate 
Catholic growth in numbers or influ- 
ence ; second, the best apology for in- 
decent living is to attack and defame 
decent people ; third, there is the com- 
mercial reason. There is such a thing 
as commercialised prejudice and hos- 
tility toward the Church. It has found 
vent before in previous movements. It 
is the J udas money sought and received 
for the betrayal of those who have 
never harmed them. Then, there is the 
disposition of the press to exploit in- 
decencies and immoralities of degen- 
erates, upon which the reading public 
feeds. Such an appetite is catered to 
by the anti-Catholic press, while throw- 
ing around their infamous work the 
veil of protection for their creeds. De- 
cent non-Catholics have no sympathy 
for such effort. Yet it continues, this 
bigofay, raising its head from time to 
time like the many headed monster 
it is. 

Waves of Bigotry. 

The recent wave of bigotry is the 
sixth which has afflicted us in the his- 
tory of America. The first wave came 
soon after the formation of the repub- 
lic, although noticeable in earlier his- 
tory. In Maryland, the Catholics under 
Lord Baltimore were ready in their ex- 
tension of equal privileges to non-Cath- 
olics who sought residence there, read- 
ily yielding to them what they (Cath- 



olics) had come so far to find, civil and 
religious liberty. Later, when control 
of affairs passed from their hands, 
Catholics suffered from the intolerance 
which they had no reason to expect 
from their once favored neighbors. 
Laws discriminating against Catholics 
were passed in many of the states. So 
many Catholics came, seeking the se- 
curity of our institutions from the rav- 
ages of the French Revolution and its 
after-effects, that this very fact almost 
brought about the destruction, at the 
hands of the bigots, of that cherished 
religious liberty they had come so far 
to find. 

War and Bigotry. 

The Mexican war was the cause of 
the breaking up of a second wave. As 
a matter of fact, a war nearly always 
formed a necessary climax to these 
ever-recurring waves. What is called 
the "Morgan Affair,'' the share of 
Catholics in the anti-Masonic Move- 
ment, the repeal of many laws discrim- 
inating against Catholics, the division 
of opinion concerning the Mexican war, 
educational plans not acceptable to 
Catholics, the appointment of a Cath- 
olic as Chief Justice of the Supreme 
Court, all of these were held as con- 
tributory reasons for this outbreak in 
the thirties which assumed serious pro- 
portions. Rioting, the destruction of 
churches, schools, convents and priests' 
residences were common experiences. 
Many murders and assassinations took 
place and there was much regrettable 
hard feeling aroused which took years 
to subside. 

The Know-Nothings. 

The scare at Catholic increase of pop- 



ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE CHURCH. 263 



ulation by immigration brought about 
a later trouble in the ' ' fifties. ' ' It came 
to be called the "Know-Nothing*' 
movement. "No Irish need Apply," 
"Down with the Catholics," "No Ro- 
manists in Office," were common slo- 
gans. The famine in Ireland at this 
time had brought out unusually large 
numbers of Irish emigrants. The rush 
to the gold discovery in California was 
a contributory cause and the general 
result was chaos and the near-destruc- 
tion of religious liberty. The old hate 
revived easily, and lawless deeds were 
of regular occurrence. Intimidation 
was common at the polls. Political 
campaigns became nightmares of vio- 
lence and rapine, until the causes lead- 
ing up to the Civil "War provided a 
larger issue uniting all men for the 
common cause of defence. 

The A. P. A. 

The secret society which has given 
name to the movement above mentioned 
came to life after the war, and, indeed, 
has proved the foundation of other 
later organizations. The old Know- 
Nothings exercised influence in many 
other organizations and the pressure 
they brought to bear in political cir- 
cles soon became evident. The Church's 
condemnation of Socialism about this 
time formed the excuse for an outbreak 
even among those not socialistically in- 
clined. Other bodies were easily in- 
duced to find reason for taking offence 
at this action of the Holy Father. The 
repression of Dr. McGlynn was con- 
strued erroneously to mean a direct 
condemnation of all movements for re- 
form, and an attempt on the part of the 



Church to interfere with American free 
speech. All of these movements were 
adroitly united, and the Blair Amend- 
ment came up in Congress with its in- 
tended insult to all Catholics. While 
it failed of passage yet it served to 
awaken the interest of the country and 
the old fever began again. Under the 
name of the American Protective As- 
sociation the campaign opened with 
all the old bitterness. Secret societies 
organized everywhere, boycott, slander, 
political assassination, intrigues, vio- 
lence and bitterness became rampant, 
causing great trouble and excitement, 
although not so much bloodshed as in 
former movements. 

The panic of 1893 crippled the 
causes leading up to this wave of 
bigotry, but it continued precariously 
until the outbreak of the Spanish war 
brought about its collapse. 

The Later Wave. 

In 1908 the celebration of the cen- 
tenary of the erection of the diocese 
of Baltimore into a Metropolitan See 
attracted attention to the growth and 
development of Catholicity in this 
country. North America was advanced 
at. this time from the status of a Mis- 
sion Country to that of a Province 
within the Church. Then, the first 
Catholic Missionary Congress was held 
in Chicago. The largest body of 
priests, bishops and laymen ever gath- 
ered together in the United States was 
assembled there. Alarmed at these 
demonstrations of Catholic strength 
non-Catholic Synods everywhere, 
Leagues, Conferences and Associations, 
passed resolutions more or less directly 



264 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



to the effect that the Catholic Church 
was "a menace to American institu- 
tions." The Catholic Eucharistic Con- 
gress a few years later in Montreal in- 
creased this apprehension. Cardinal 
Gibbons' Jubilee, the creation of two 
more American Cardinals, all this 
helped materially to create trouble in 
the minds of some non-Catholics. The 
professional agitator saw his chance to 
reap a harvest. A non-Catholic paper 
started, financed by those so influenced. 
A thoroughly organized secret society 
sprang up from nowhere. Profes- 
sional speakers, of the ex-priest, ex- 
nun type, were hurriedly rushed into 
the field. More papers reached out 
for the harvest of coin that offered. 
Tons of literature were spread broad- 
cast, attacking the character of priests 
and sisters, and of Catholics in office. 
Exaggeration and embellishment be- 
came the rule in such attacks until cer- 
tain libel suits caused the defamers 
to exercise greater care, and to take 
refuge behind insinuations and gen- 
eralities as old as religion itself. 

Then came the Great War and the 
whole-hearted patriotism of Catholic 
people was everywhere commended. 
Here and there were the trouble mak- 
ing-bigots in action. Not until the 
world was safely at peace did their 
real fury become manifest. Out of the 
South, where it had been organizing in 
secret came the hordes of attack. 

The Ku Klux Klan. 

The Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, 
Inc., was organized Oct. 26th, 1915, in 
Atlanta, Ga., by William Joseph Sim- 
mons and thirty-three others, receiving 



a charter from Fulton County Su- 
perior Court, July 1, 1916. 

When exposed by the New York 
World in the fall of 1921, the Klan 
claimed membership of about 650,000. 
The South formed the greater strong- 
holds, although the North was not with- 
out its large membership as well. States 
in the West knew its activities. 

The founders claimed a revival of 
the old Ku Klux Klan of the recon- 
struction period in the South after the 
Civil War. Then the slogan was 
"white supremacy," directed against 
colored people. 

While the same slogan appeared with 
the Klan revivalists, it was soon evi- 
dent that the later organization was 
rather more anti-Jew, anti-Catholic, 
anti-alien. Its strongest appeal is 
made to hatreds and prejudices. 

Armies of glib organizers covered 
the country peddling memberships on 
percentage basis. Sectional leaders 
were first sought, members soon would 
follow. While men alone were sought 
at first, women were later accepted. 

The pages of the New York World, 
beginning Sept., 1921, were filled with 
a list of outrages committed by masked 
men wearing white robes and hoods, 
announcing themselves to their victims 
as the Ku Klux Klansmen. Many were 
the attacks upon individuals thus 
listed. Proofs of the Klan's anti-Jew 
and anti-Catholic tenets were fur- 
nished, photographic evidence of inner 
secrets, facts about efforts made to call 
off the press through a big advertising 
campaign, revelations of huge personal 
advantages held by insiders, ranging 
from millions paid in commissions to 



ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE CHURCH. 265 



the Kleagles for the establishment of a 
place for the Imperial Wizard — all this 
and more formed features of the ex- 
pose, then made by the World. 

The "big three," as they were called, 
ruled the "invisible empire." Each 
member donated ten dollars. Regalia 
cost him $6.50 which the World esti- 
mated as worth $1.25. 

The Searchlight, published in At- 
lanta, Ga., was the organ of the move- 
ment. 

A sample appeal of the Klan is as 
follows: "If you are a 100 per cent, 
true red-blooded American, believing 
in the tenets of the Christian religion 
and in the separation of Church and 
State, and know yourself qualified as a 
real man of good moral character, and 
are seriously interested in the princi- 
ples set forth in the enclosed literature, 
you may have an opportunity to meet 
with a representative by filling out the 
enclosed questions and returning it to 
Box , New York. ' ' 

In the language of the above it is in- 
dicated that foreign-born, Jewish or 
Roman Catholic Americans are not 100 
per cent and are not wanted. 

One of the features of the World's 
expose was reproduction of a letter 
from the King Kleagle in which he 
stated that he found copies of the K. C. 
oath "of value among a certain few." 
The oath referred to is the bogus oath 
attributed to the fourth degree of the 
K. of C. 

Propaganda charging Catholics as- 
sassinated Lincoln, Garfield and Mc- 
Kinley was also claimed in the investi- 
gation. 



The Evangelical Protestant Society. 

This is an anti-Catholic organization 
which became known in the spring of 
1922, with headquarters in New York. 
So-called leaders of Methodist, Pres- 
byterian and Baptist churches inaugu- 
rated a nation-wide campaign for mem- 
bers. A press interview with the pres- 
ident, Edward C. Miller, elicited the 
following statement of program: 

"This organization," Mr. Miller 
said, "proposes to establish a research 
bureau to examine every charge 
against the Papacy. Then the results 
of such research will be presented to 
our executive committee, and that com- 
mittee will formulate plans to meet 
each emergency by use of the pitiless 
publicity of mass meetings, the cir- 
culation of literature and other means 
of arousing the public to its peril. 

"We will have a press department 
which will furnish copy to the secular 
and religious press and to organiza- 
tions affiliated with this society 
throughout the United States. 

"We will not indulge in vituperation 
or slander. This movement has noth- 
ing to do with the A. P. A. or the Ku 
Klux Klan. There are no masks or 
secret oaths. It is not a secret society 
or a political organization in any sense 
of the word. The fight will be abso- 
lutely in the open. 

"We will fight papal Rome and its 
hierarchy in its attempt to encroach 
on American institutions ; for instance, 
in its attempt to destroy the Ameri- 
can public school system in the interest 
of its parochial schools, where Papal 



266 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



religious and political teaching is 
given. 

"We will oppose any exchange of 
Ambassadors with the Vatican. 

In connection with its advertised 
membership campaign the Society 
made public a pamphlet entitled "The 
E. P. S. Bulletin," which contains 
membership application blanks and a 
list of membership pledges, among 
them the following : 

"I am willing to pledge myself to 
use my influence to get a bill passed in 
our State Legislature to compel the 
attendance of every child at the public 
schools up to the eighth grade. 

' ' I am willing to use my influence in 
favor of the Towner-Sterling education 
bill." 

Press reports of the Society's Char- 
ter members lists Gilbert 0. Nations, 
editor of The Protestant, and one time 
connected with the Menace. 

Review of Anti-Catholic Societies. 

It is not to be wondered at that the 
Church is ever the object of attack. 
It has been the rule in every age. Our 
Savior foretold it. It is nothing more 
than proof of the malignity directed 
against Himself. 

Yet, prepared as we are for attack, it 
ever remains a marvel that bigotry 
could go to such lengths. Perhaps the 
most thorough review of anti-Catholic 
societies and publications is found in 
the columns of our Sunday Visitor, 
that excellent Catholic weekly, pub- 
lished by Monsignor Noll, in Hunting- 
ton, Ind. 

"Believing that the American people 
would like to be fair, we invite them to 



inquire into the character and motives 
of the anti-Catholic agitators," said 
our Sunday Visitor, editorially, in re- 
cent issue. "We are convinced that 
their conclusions would be precisely 
what our convictions are — convictions 
so strong that we back them with a sum 
of money. We maintain that there is 
absolutely no sincerity about the or- 
ganized campaign against the Catholic 
Church, either on the part of publish- 
ers, like G. 0. Nations, Theo. Walker. 
Marvin Brown, David Irvine ; or on 
the part of traveling lecturers, who 
deal out falsehoods and calumny from 
the platform or from the Protestant 
pulpits ; or on the part of the Evan- 
gelical Protestant Society; or on the 
part of the Great American Frater- 
nity; or on the part of the Ku Klux 
Klan; or on the part of The Protestant 
Rangers of America; or on the part of 
the Sons and Daughters of Washing- 
ton; or on the part of the National Le- 
fjion of Pathfinders; or on the part of 
the Guardians of Liberty; or on the 
part of the Knights of Luther; or on 
the part of Public School Defense 
Leagues; or even on the part of the 
Scottish Rite Masons of the Southern 
Jurisdiction. 

"The publishers of anti-Catholic 
papers, the promoters of most anti- 
Catholic organizations, and those who 
speak against the Catholic Church on 
the lecture platform, are in the work 
for revenue only. If they could con- 
nect with something else which would 
pay better, they would not worry about 
the Catholic Church or about our be- 
loved country, whose welfare they cer- 
tainly have not at heart. Nearly all 



ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE CHURCH. 267 



such men have been connected with 
radical organizations, were wild So- 
cialists before it became more profita- 
ble to engage in the present business 
of sowing the seeds of discord, the 
worst form of anti-Americanism. 

"The most deplorable aspect of it all 
is that hundreds of Protestant minis- 
ters, and many sectarian periodicals, 
are helping along this anti-American 
and anti-Catholic propaganda — pre- 
sumably in good faith. Many ministers 
candidly confess that they actually be- 
lieve the charges made in the books 
written by Chiniquy, Fresenborg, 
Crowley and others. This admission 
proves that their previous education 
was such as to dispose them to believe 
almost any wicked thing about the 
Catholic Church. 

"If such clergymen and editors be 
unwilling to give the Catholic Church 
even the slightest hearing, they should 
at least accept our offer of $1,000.00 
for proof of the stock charges made 
against the Catholic Church by anti- 
Catholic writers, editors, and platform 
speakers." 

(It may here be said that our Sun- 
day "Visitor's offer has been standing 
unclaimed for several years.) 

Anti-Catholic Press and Lecturers. 

"The following summary will en- 
lighten people on a few names and 
periodicals, with which they have been 
familiar, and by which they have been 
frequently fooled : 

"(1) The Appeal to Reason (So- 
cialist) and The Menace were blood- 
relatives. The editor of the Appeal has 



admitted that his suicide-predecessor 
was father of The Menace. 

"(2) A later owner of The Men- 
ace, W. F. Phelps, was formerly busi- 
ness manager of the Appeal. He was 
discharged as being too bad (immoral) 
a fellow even for connection with a 
Socialist organ. (See Appeal, February 
4, 1905.) 

"(3) The high-sounding organiza- 
tion known as The Free Press Defense 
League, which last owned The Menace, 
which recently went into a receiver's 
hands, was only a treasury to receive 
funds for Socialist propaganda of the 
virulent type. G. O. Nations, Editor 
of the New Menace and of the Pro- 
testant, was its Vice President. From 
this fund he and Parker each drew 
$100 a week. 

" (4) In the New Menace, issue of 
April 10th, 1920, it is admitted that W. 
F. Phelps and Earl McClure started 
the publication of The Menace 
"strictly for profit." It is admitted 
that "the paper became a veritable 
mint in the point of money making"; 
that McClure retired after a short time 
worth $100,000; that Phelps made 
$300,000 off the paper; that Marvin 
Brown, managing editor, accumulated 
$50,000. It is furthermore admitted 
that after The Menace plant burned 
down in December, 1919, the insurance 
company refused to pay the insurance, 
and that a serious disagreement arose 
between Rev. Theodore Walker on the 
one side and Billy Parker and Judge 
Nations on the other. 

"(5) Jay W. Forrest, prominent 
in several anti-Catholic organizations 
in recent years, and now promoter of 



268 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



another, was charged with appropriat- 
ing funds of the Order of P's (Path- 
finders), and later of the Sons and 
Daughters of Washington. 

"(6) The Melting Pot, published 
in St. Louis, was an infidel paper of the 
most aggresive kind, yet even Debs ap- 
plauds its atheism. (See Melting Pot, 
March and April, 1916.) 

"(7) The People's Press, pub- 
lished in Chicago, is professedly infidel 
and anti-Christian, yet The Guardians 
of Liberty used it as propaganda sheet. 

Some Charges Against the Church. 

"(8) The "K. of C. Oath," the 
"Sinn Fein Oath," the "National 
Catholic Register letter about Wilson 
and Tumulty," which our enemies cir- 
culate, are all "bogus." 

"(9) Rationalist propaganda is 
very active; it has headquarters in all 
large cities, and is propagating its 
atheism through periodicals of its own. 
Yet it, like the other self-styled patri- 
otic organizations, sheets, and lectur- 
ers, hides its real intentions behind the 
patriotic slogan, "Free Speech, Free 
Press." Many anti-Catholic agitators 
are professed rationalists or infidels, 
yet speak under Protestant auspices. 

"(10) To make it appear that the 
Catholic Church opposes Free Speech, 
anti-Catholic lecturers often deliber- 
ately have their own followers stir up 
a disturbance at their meetings. 

"(11) The anti-Catholic propa- 
ganda pretends to be fighting "Rome 
and the Catholic Hierarchy in Poli- 
tics," though its prime-movers know 
that the charge has no foundation in 
fact. There has never been a Catholic 



President or even Vice President. The 
President's Cabinet is Protestant; the 
Senate is overwhelmingly Protestant, 
as is also the House. Very few Gover- 
nors of the States are Catholic ; very 
few mayors of big cities, scarcely any 
Federal Judges, yet Catholics consti- 
tute nearly twenty per cent of our pop- 
ulation. 

"(12) Many reputable Masonic pa- 
pers are not in sympathy with the New 
Age and a few others, which are bit- 
terly hostile to the Catholic Church. 
In the February, 1922, number of the 
"Square and Compass," a Masonic 
journal published in Denver, the ed- 
itor comments as follows on the New 
Age. 

" 'The country is full of Masonic 
journals, and the remarkable monotone 
evoked from these harps of one string 
is wonderful in this sameness: I said 
"one string" — but in that I over- 
stepped the mark — because they have 
two. The first is devoted to the won- 
derful sky-blue-pink perfection of 
everything and everybody to whom the 
name "Mason or Masonry" is at- 
tached ; and the other string is devoted 
to telling what a hell of an outrage the 
Roman Catholic religion is, and what 
a blot it is on the world in general — 
and Masonry in particular. 

." 'Take the best known and widest 
distributed one of them all (because 
free), The New Age, as an example. 
The January and February issues 
"scream" with anti-Catholism. ' " 

Cash for Proof of Charges. 

Since the charges below are the main 
ones which anti-Catholic speakers and 



ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE CHURCH. 269 



authors make against the Church, Our 
Sunday Visitor, Huntington, Ind., of- 
fers $1,000 reward for proof of any 
of them: 

1. Catholics cannot be loyal to the 
United States government, for they 
owe temporal allegiance to the Pope. 

2. The Pope interferes with Ameri- 
can politics. 

3. The Catholic Hierarchy controls 
a political machine. 

4. Catholics are forbidden to read 
the Bible. 

5. Catholics worship images and 
statues. 

6. Immorality is common in mon- 
asteries or convents. 

7. The Jesuits teach "The end 
justifies the means." 

8. The Knights of Columbus take 
the so-called "Alleged K. of C. Oath." 

9. The Jesuits take the "Jesuit 
Oath" circulated by their enemies. 

10. Girls are forced into the Sister- 
hoods or retained in them against their 
will. 

11. Catholics seek to destroy the 
public schools. 

12. The Catholic Church refuses to 
acknowledge as valid the marriage of 
Protestants. 

13. Catholics are given undue gov- 
ernment patronage. 

14. Our country would be bene- 
fited by closing the parochial school. 

15. The assassins of Lincoln, Gar- 
field, McKinley were Catholic. 

16. Lincoln's "Dark Cloud" utter- 
ance is genuine. 

17. Catholics believe that the Pope 
should rule in a temporal way over the 
world. 



It may be said that Our Sunday Vis- 
itor has had this money on deposit in 
the bank for some years now. So far 
none of the doughty lecturers has at- 
tempted to claim it with the proofs de- 
manded. 

Commission on Religious Prejudice. 

The most notable and praise-worthy 
effort undertaken by Catholic men in 
defense of religion has been that of the 
Commission on Religious Prejudice of 
the Knights of Columbus. This body 
was organized in August, 1914. Its ob- 
jects were "to study the causes, inves- 
tigate conditions and suggest remedies 
for the religious prejudice that has 
been manifest through press and ros- 
trum in a malicious and scurrilous cam- 
paign that is hostile to the spirit of 
American freedom and liberty and con- 
trary to God's law of 'Love Thy Neigh- 
bor as Thyself. ' ' ' This further account 
of their labors is found in the first re- 
port. 

The original membership composed 
of Col. P. H. Callahan, Chairman, 
Louisville, Ky. ; Mr. A. G. Bagley, Van- 
couver, B. C, Vice-Chairman ; Hon. 
Jos. C. Pelletier, Boston, Mass. ; Hon. 
Jos. Scott, Los Angeles, Cal. ; Hon. 
Thos. A. Lawler, Lansing, Mich. The 
Honorable C. J. Doherty, Minister of 
Justice for Canada, was later named 
Vice-Chairman to succeed Mr. Bagley. 

The principal work of the Commis- 
sion was conducted from the Chair- 
man's office at Louisville, Ky., where 
a Bureau, consisting of Assistant to the 
Chairman, Secretary and Correspond- 
ing Secretary of the Commission, meet 
each day to go over correspondence, 



270 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



answer inquiries, note news items and 
editorials, frame suitable replies to 
unfriendly articles, pass on the avail- 
ability of suggested propaganda and 
devise ways and means for its proper 
distribution, send out general instruc- 
tions and information in regard to the 
work and where occasion requires as- 
sist local committees with suggestions 
and advice. In this manner more than 
a thousand letters and hundreds of ar- 
ticles were handled each month and 
there is hardly any aspect or bearing 
of prejudice that was not in some way 
treated. 

In addition, the members of the Com- 
mission made frequent visits to sec- 
tions where personal attention was nec- 
essary properly to cope with local con- 
ditions. 

Recommendations. 

In presenting their report the Com- 
mission recommended that a nation- 
wide patriotic movement be continued 
to create a sympathetic relationship 
among people of all religions in the 
improvement of public morals, the 
furtherance of social justice and the 
very best citizenship. The Commis- 
sion arranged for public addresses, or- 
ganized an educational campaign, dis- 
seminated literature, supplied infor- 
mation concerning published articles 
which deserved notice, and established 
a clearing-house for the proper hand- 
ling of all such matters with officers in 
charge. 

The pamphlet literature issued num- 
bers some that have gone into many 
editions. From all sides came evidences 
of the popularity of such ready-to-use 



religious facts in easy-to-read form. 
Among them are "A Plea for Peace," 
"A Protest and a Plea," "Knights of 
Columbus vs. Criminal Libel," "Cath- 
olic Patriotism nad Public Schools," 
"The Church and the Bible," "Anti- 
Papal Panic," "A Message to all Pa- 
triotic Citizens." 

Other Champions of the Trnth. 

Among the valuable factors in the 
cause of fighting the Church's battle 
by means of publications is the Catho- 
lic Truth Society. 

A branch of the parent organization 
for defense in Europe, the Catholic 
Truth Society is doing excellent work. 
It has special arrangements with the 
older bodies in England, Ireland, Scot- 
land and Australia, for the distribution 
in America of all matter published by 
them. These, with the Society's own 
local publications, make its list an ex- 
tensive one, with which all Catholics 
should familiarize themselves. 

Doctrinal, historical and miscellane- 
ous pamphlets are issued at such a rea- 
sonable price, that we, who realize and 
decry the effect made by anti-Catholic 
literature, should bestir ourselves and 
counteract such influences by the 
spread of the Truth. Catholic societies 
especially should interest themselves, 
realizing the need of explanation to 
well-disposed non-Catholics, as well as 
the need of reclaiming those who have 
fallen away from the Church. The 
Catholic Truth Society is located at 
407 Bergen St., Brooklyn, N. Y. 

Every country has its organization 
which deals with attacks upon the 
Church. "When false statements are 



ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE CHURCH. 271 



made, anyone may inquire of the or- 
ganization in his own land, which has 
correspondents everywhere, and will 
soon probe the matter. If the story 
comes from another country, which is 
often the case, as the fiction writer who 
sends it out through the press agencies 
knows that it is harder to disprove it 
on that account, inquiry is made of the 
organization in that other country. 

In Europe, Belgium, France, Ger- 
many, England, Holland, Spain and 
Austria are thus connected, with Bel- 
gium as headquarters of the central 
organization. Germany alone has 600 
Catholic papers ready to defend the 
Faith against slanders and lies. 

Each national organization has at 
its disposal the free advice of Catholic 
lawyers, who are experts in libel law, 
and in this way legal action is assured 
against the slanderers. 

In South America, Brazil and Chile 
are affiliated with the European body, 
while in the United States the Catholic 
Truth Society is the main factor of de- 
fence. Working strenuously and effect- 
ively in this country is the Catholic 
Publishing Co. of Huntington, Indiana, 
with Rev. J. F. Noll as its head. Father 
Noll has a standing offer of a large 
sum of money, offered by a friend and 
deposited in bank, for anyone who can 
prove even one of the customary 
charges brought against the Church. 
And he offers to let a committee of non- 
Catholics decide the point. His offer 
has never been taken up. The Central 
Verein in St. Louis, the Catholic Mind, 
(Jesuit Fathers) and the Catholic 
Book Exchange (Paulist Fathers) of 
New York are also doing excellent work 



in the dissemination of popular edi- 
tions of Catholic literature. 

What Informed Non-Catholics Say. 

After speaking of the liars and 
slanderers who make it their business 
and delight to throw mud at the 
Church, it is no more than fair, and it 
is decidedly pleasant, to come into con- 
tact with intelligent, high-minded non- 
Catholics and to consider the contrast 
— with the lies and slanders that have 
been mentioned — of their expressions 
regarding Catholicity. 

Therefore, lest it might be unjustly 
thought that non-Catholics generally 
hate and revile the Church, and in or- 
der to substitute an agreeable feeling 
for the disgust which the liars' and 
landerers' methods naturally evoke, 
let us present a number of extracts 
from the writings of distinguished non- 
Catholics, men and women of note in 
their various fields of endeavor during 
the last two hundred years or so — not 
a few of whom are still among the liv- 
ing: 

I. 

Non-Catholic Clergymen, Educators, 
and Philanthropists. 

"I am convinced that Protestantism 
in general treats Catholics with shame- 
ful ignorance and unfairness." — Dean 
Stanley (Anglican.) 

"In scarcely a single instance has a 
case concerning them (Catholics) been 
fairly stated. ' ' — Dr. Nightingale 
(Methodist.) 

"The Roman Catholic Church is be- 
mired from day to day with all possible 



272 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



calumnies." — Dr. Schaff (Presby- 
terian.) 

"Among non-Catholics even men of 
education are woefully ignorant of the 
Catholic Church." — Dr. Washington 
Gladden (Congregationalism) 

"Catholics go to church to worship, 
Protestants frequently to hear an elo- 
quent sermon There is a real 

democracy in a Catholic congregation. 
.... The Catholic Church has been 
charged with putting too much stress 
upon good works and not enough upon 
faith; Protestantism has swung to the 

other extreme The Catholic 

charities, covering every conceivable 
case of need and suffering, put Prot- 
estantism to shame. ' ' — Rev. Madison C. 
Peters (Baptist.) 

"There can be no doubt that the 
Roman Catholic Church of our day is 
the heir of unbroken descent to the Ro- 
man Catholic Church of the second cen- 
tury, and that it is justified in using 
the name 'Catholic,' as well as the 
name 'Roman.' " — Dr. Briggs (Protes- 
tant Episcopal.) 

' ' I greatly admire the significance of 
the title of the Holy Name Society of 
the Catholic Church, just as I admire 
a great many other things in that great 
Church." — Bishop Hoss (Methodist, 
South.) 

"The Protestant Church owes all 
that is best in it to the Catholic 
Church. "—Rev. A. M. Courtney 
(Methodist.) 

"The Church of Rome has always 
been a strong force in favor of public 
morals and the family. ... No church 
has held its people to the sanctity of 
the marriage bond as has the Church 



of Rome." — Rev. B. B. Dimmick 

(Methodist.) 

" . . . . In all fairness it must be 
admitted that popular ignorance, su- 
perficial knowledge, and malicious 
slander have misrepresented her (the 
Catholic Church's) teachings in many 

instances To contemplate her 

history is to admire her The 

Roman Catholic Church has stood solid 

for law and order A church 

ministering to the body, mind, and soul 
of Christianity." — Rev. T. B. Thomp- 
son (Congregational.) 

"It is a strange and lamentable fact 
that not one Protestant in ten thousand 
knows the truth about the teaching and 
practice of the Catholic Church." — 
Rev. J. B. Hemmeon (Methodist.) 

"Roman Catholics meet the real dif- 
ficulty in education. Our Protestant 
churches utterly ignore it." — Presi- 
dent Harper (Chicago University.) 

"The Catholic Church is essentially 
the most democratic of churches." — 
Prof. Nathaniel Schmidt (Cornell.) 

" . . . . Th\,xe can be no doubt that 
innumerable millions of the human 
race have on the whole lived better 
lives and died happier because of the 
teaching and ministrations of the Cath- 
olic Church. . . . .The American Cath- 
olic Church is a great protection of lib- 
erty and life." — Geo. T. Angell, .Presi- 
dent S. P. C. A. 

"The Confessional fills a need of hu- 
manity." — Judge E. B. Lindsay (of 
the Denver Juvenile Court.) 

"My being placed over you was my 
misfortune, not my fault. You are 
better qualified. What you have done 
for the world no one can ever say." — 






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ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE CHURCH. 273 



Florence Nightingale (in a letter to a 
Sister of Charity.) 

"I regard the Catholic Church as 
the great bulwark in the United States 
against bad features of Socialism and 
for the upholding of law. ' ' — Max Pani. 

II. 

Non-Catholic Statesmen. 

"The Church is a great democracy. 
There is none so poor and humble that 
he might not become a priest. There 
is no priest so obscure that he might 

not become Pope These learned, 

trained and accomplished men kept 
government alive in the Middle Ages." 
— Woodrow Wilson, (President of the 
United States.) 

"Non-Catholics may properly ex- 
press a high appreciation of the good 
influence of the Catholic Church in our 

Community I will testify to 

the work and usefulness of those men 
of God in the Philippines. We can be 
very sure that those who are good Cath- 
olics are good citizens." — William 
Howard Taft (ex-President of the 
United States.) 

"The Catholic Church has accom- 
plished great things for God and hu- 
manity." — C. W. Fairbanks, ex-Vice 
President of the United States.) 

"I applaud a church that stands for 
the sacredness of the home and tha 
marriage tie." — Thos. R. Marshall 
(Vice-President of the United States.) 

"The records of humanity will be 
searched in vain for the story of purer 
lives, or of more steadfast apostleship, 
or of sterner martyrdom, than those of 
Jogues, Marquette and their fellow- 



priests." — Franklin MacVeagh (ex- 
Secretary of the Treasury of the 
United States.) 

"The Catholic Church has marched 
for more than fifteen hundred years at 
the head of human civilization. ' ' — Wil- 
liam E. Gladstone. 

"I believe the best friend and pro- 
tector the people and the flag shall 
have in the hour of trial will be the 
Roman Church." — Mark Hanna. 

"The Church is one of the greatest 
forces for order and civilization." — 
Joseph G. Cannon (ex-Speaker House 
of Congress.) 

III. 

Non-Catholic Authors. 

"From the sixth to the fourteenth 
century, the Papal power was the great 
conservative of Christianity .... and 
it was of inestimable benefit to Euro- 
pean civilization. ' ' — Milman. 

"I persist in believing that Catho- 
licism .... will endure while all 
Protestant sects dissolve and disap- 
pear. ' ' — Matthew Arnold. 

"The Catholic Church is the only 
historical religion that can conceivably 
.... adapt itself to the wants of the 
present day without virtually ceasing 
to be itself .... that can always be 
the same and yet always developing." 
— W. H. Mallock. 

"The Papacy remains, not in decay, 
not in a mere antique, but full of life 
and youthful vigor. The Catholic 
Church is still sending forth to the 
farthest ends of the world missionaries 
as zealous as those who landed in Kent 

with Augustine Nor do we sea 

any sign which indicates that the term 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



274 

of her long dominion is approaching." 
— Macaulay. 

"During this period (from the fifth 
to the fifteenth century) the Church 
was the one mighty witness for light. ' ' 
— Cannon Farrar. 

"If Protestantism enjoys a good 
loaf, it is because Catholicity furnished 
the grain that entered it." — Samuel 
Johnson. 

"So far as I have observed, Roman 
Catholics understand the business of 
dying better than the Protestants." — 
Oliver Wendell Holmes. 

IV. 

Pantheists, Agnostics, and Atheists. 

"Catholicism has a . . . . unity, a 
compactness, a power which Protestant 
denominations do not possess." — Dra- 
per. 

"The ideas and feelings of man's 
moral nature have never found so per- 
fect an expression in form as they 
found in the noble cathedrals of Ca- 
tholicism. ' ' — Comte. 

"As a thinker and a metaphysician, 
I was always forced to pay the homage 
of my admiration to the logical con- 
sistency of the Roman Catholic 
Church. ' ' — Heine. 

"In this (the abolition of slavery) 
the Catholic Church was the most zeal- 
ous, the most unwearied, and the most 
efficient agent. In the Middle Ages, 
the clergy had been the initiators of 
almost every progressive movement. 
.... That church which often seemed 
so haughty and so overbearing toward 
kings and nobles, never failed to listen 
to the poor and oppressed By 



the influence which it has exercised 
over mankind, the Papal Government 
is greatest." — Lecky. 

V. 

Non-Catholic Magazines and Papers. 

"The Roman Priesthood has re- 
nounced all that which to most men 
makes life worth living." — Nineteenth 
Century Magazine. 

"The Catholic Church is the only 
church into which a poor, ragged, 
friendless man may go and feel that he 

is welcome It always stood for 

the people against their oppressors." — 
Everybody 's. 

"The growth of the Roman Church 
in the United States is one of the most 
striking facts in history — and she has 
also gained the popular good will, or 
at least a favorable prepossession, and 
she has conquered respect." — Booklov- 
er's Magazine. 

"That Church is a vast spiritual po- 
lice force, a protection of society from 
the reckless apostles of self-will." — 
The Outlook. 

" . . . .The Catholic Church is 
coming to be regarded as the sheet- 
anchor of society." — Harper's Weekly. 

"The Roman Church in America is 
thoroughly alive to its duties as a wit- 
ness to the life of practical righteous- 
ness. ' ' — Congregationalist, Boston. 

' ' The Roman Catholic Church in this 
land can point to something more than 
numerical increase." — The Churchman 
(Protestant Episcopal.) 

"It is an open truth that the Catho- 
lics furnish the largest proportion of 
blue-coats, blue-jackets and boys in 



ATTITUDE TOWARDS THE CHURCH. 275 



khaki." — Federation Review (He- 
brew). 

"As we read after the Archbishop 
(O'Connell), we are led to ask if, after 
all, this church might not become the 
hope of the world as the repository and 
conservator of the essential fundamen- 
tals of the Christian revelation." 
— Zion's Herald (Methodist). 

"Time and place affect not the 
Church. It still thrills the world with 
its teachings and services." — New 
York Sun. 

"The (Catholic) priest speaks as 
one having authority, with the faith 
that knows no wavering. He will never 
ack hearers." — The Inter Ocean, Chi- 
cago. 

Proselyting Abroad. 

Our non-Catholic friends are most 
generous in their contributions to mis- 
sion work. As explained to them the 
idea of converting the heathen has dis- 
tinct appeal. The result is whole- 
hearted response each year to the col- 
lections taken for this purpose. 

Not all know that much of the funds 
obtained in this way are used for pur- 
poses which by no stretch of imagina- 
tion can be identified as aiding the 
heathen. It is a well known fact that 
much money is spent in Catholic coun- 
tries, and that many missionaries are 
active in districts where the population 
is overwhelmingly Catholic. This is 
true in Mexico, in South America and 
in Europe. Our Holy Father has on 
occasion referred bitterly to question- 
able activities in Rome on the part of 
American Protestant mission organiza- 
tions. It was in defence of religion 



that the K. of C. undertook welfare 
work in Italy. Bishops, priests and 
laymen in other countries have re- 
peatedly charged that the real aim of 
such organizations is to destroy the 
Faith of people to whom it has de- 
scended for generations. There is no 
possibility of leaving them a substitute 
in religion. Years of proselyting in 
certain places has proved this. At 
enormous expense some have been won 
from the ancient faith. They freely 
accept the many gifts lavished upon 
them by mission workers and when this 
generosity lapses they fall away into 
a state of religious indifference. For a 
time only, bad Protestants have been 
made. 

Europe especially resents the activi- 
ties of many American Protestant or- 
ganizations who established themselves 
and their work in that stricken con- 
tinent after the war. Responsible men 
and women among them have asserted 
that the only purpose of these workers 
was to render aid to the poor in the way 
of food, money clothes. But the two 
"Y's," as the Y. M. C. A. and the 
Y. W. C. A. are known, are said to 
have a plan back of their efforts, not 
so much to distribute material help as 
to build up a new social order in which 
they have a monopoly. Ostensibly this 
is to start "training for better citizen- 
ship ' ' among European boys and girls. 
On the other hand it is charged that 
they aim to distroy faith as above men- 
tioned. 

Eugene Weare, correspondent for 
"America," Sept. '22, notes that these 
American Protestant invasionists have 
intensified their work where the need 



276 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



was gi'eatest. The Catholic poor suf- 
fered the most in the war and it was 
among these that nearly all American 
Protestants sought to work. Poland, 
Austria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary find 
large numbers of such workers. In 
places where Jews are found American 
Protestants do not try to work. It is 
only Catholics, apparently, who stand 
in need of conversion. 

Mr. Weare felt that there was no 
great need for alarm in the situation. 
Making such converts is a costly busi- 
ness, and otherwise unsatisfactory. 
Many of them had lost the faith even 
before their so-called conversions. This 
was especially true in Bohemia among 
large numbers of "Y" adherents there, 
widely heralded as converts. 

In Austria, America's correspondent 
declares the workers were giving re- 
lief and preaching Protestantism at the 
same time. In Poland, he says, 
Methodists appear to have more money 
than all others. He tells of its use as 
gifts to those who attend their church 
services. He quotes from their litera- 
ture in anti-Catholic statements. 

Intelligent Europeans despised the 
methods employed. They said the 
practice of bribing starving people 
with food was a despicable thing. Yet 



it continued and this is the sort of thing 
on which American dollars were spent. 
It has its counterpart only in that 
other product of the Reformation, the 
soup-kitchens and the informers im 
famine days in Ireland. 

Bigotry a Blessing. 

One of the marks of the Church that 
is not sufficiently insisted on is that 
it shall always be persecuted. The 
violence of bigotry will be always di- 
rected against it. This is her blessing 
by divine right. We should be even 
jealous when others are called on to 
share it. In the light of our history 
we have never escaped the enemy who 
traduced us, who libeled us, and who 
lied about us. Only when we needed 
the lash of the critic, did we most 
miss it. One thing has been proven, 
that whilst the Church can never die 
nor decay, the nearest it came to do- 
ing both was when the Church had 
power, wealth, flattery. Therefore, 
we ought not to be too thin-skinned 
like those to whom bigotry comes in 
the guise of persecution based merely 
on human considerations. "Blessed 
are you who suffer persecutions for jus- 
tice's sake," and the reverse might be 
well put, "Cursed are ye when men 
fawn on ye. ' ' 



Bibliography. 

Lies and Errors of History, Parsons; The A. P. A. Movement, 
Desmond; Ghosts of Bigotry, Yorke; K. of C. Commission on Re- 
ligious Prejudice Report; Our Sunday Visitor, (editorial) ; Defamers 
of the Church, Sundav Visitor Press; When Informed Catholics 
Speak, Rev. J. F. Noll; Cathode Church from Without, Carey; 
Outside the Walls, Musser; Tributes of Protestant Writers, Treacy; 
Is One Religion As Good As Another? Lambert; other works are 
quoted in the context. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Charges Made Against the Church. 

Voltaire's Methods of Attack on Religion — The Spanish Inquisition — St. Bar- 
tholomew Massacre — Papal Infallibility — Allegiance to the Pope — Alleged Failures 
of Infallibility — Case of Galileo — Savonarola — Why Priests Do Not Marry — The 
Jesuit Motto— The Woman Pope— Fictitious Bulls— The Alleged Bull of Pope Adrian 
— Masses for the Dead — Indulgences — Dispensations — Predestinatior. — Catholics and 
Politics— The Catholic Vote— The So-Called K. of C. Oath and Mason Investiga- 
tion — Is The Church Opposed to Science? — Catholic Inventors — Anglican Orders — 
Anglicans and Greeks — Church of Ancient Britain — Is One Religion As Good As 
Another? — Are Catholics Bigoted? — Intolerance — Rash Judgment — Catholics in 
Prison — Communion in One Kind — Is There Salvation Outside the Church? — St. 
Peter in Rome — Catholic Teachers— Relics of Saints— The Bad Catholic. 



"Lie, lie, Keep on lying. Some of 
the lies will stick." — Voltaire. 

As has been said in this work before, 
the Church has always been the target 
of lying, slanderous charges. Some of 
these charges — charges which the 
Church's enemies have done their evil 
worst to put on the pages of history — 
call for a brief discussion and rebuttal. 
They are old charges, and have been 
proven false hundreds of times, but 
they are made again and again — in ac- 
cord with Voltaire's instruction to his 
followers quoted above. 

The Spanish Inquisition. 

That religious intolerence was a fac- 
tor in the establishment of the tribunal 
for the trials, condemnation and exe- 
cution of heretics known as The Span- 
ish Inquisition is unquestionably false. 
That intolerence entered into its exist- 



ence later on may be true, but it was 
not nearly as predominant a factor as 
the foes of the Church have consist- 
ently tried to make it appear ; nor was 
the Church responsible for it, any more 
than a society is responsible for the ac- 
tions of one or a few of its members. 

As a matter of fact, the Catholics of 
the Middle Ages — the Spanish Inquisi- 
tion was founded in the fifteenth cen- 
tury — thought that heretics were con- 
sciously, knowingly, stubbornly, ma- 
liciously wrong and therefore consid- 
ered heresy a crime, which accounts for 
the part that religious intolerance 
played in the history of the Inquisition. 

However, the chief, real and funda- 
mental reason for the creation and ca- 
reer of the Spanish Inquisition was not 
religious intolerance but political jeal- 
ousies and intolerance of another kind, 
racial intolerance. There were in 



278 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Spain a great many Jews and a great 
many descendants of the Moors — and 
the Spanish people had no love for 
either Jews or Moors and were deter- 
mined to rid Spain of their presence. 
Wherefore, religion was used by the 
secular power — the government of 
Spain — as a pretext for the gradual ex- 
termination of the Jews and the Moors 
and for the confiscation of their con- 
siderable property. That the chief of- 
ficers of the Inquisition were officers of 
the state and not of the Church, is a 
fact easily proven, which further 
proves the use of the Inquisition for 
political purposes more or less doubt- 
ful. 

The number of the Inquisition's vic- 
tims has been grossly exaggerated. It 
is possibly true, nevertheless, that a 
great many executions may be put to 
the account of the Spanish Inquisition 
during its existence of 330 years. And 
it is also true that the Inquisition tor- 
tured its victims — even as Queen Eliz- 
abeth and other rulers of England tor- 
tured and executed thousands of Cath- 
olics. They held human life lightly in 
those days. 

Far from being an institution of the 
Church, the Spanish Inquisition caused 
several estrangements between the 
Pope and the Spanish government — 
since more than one Pope censured the 
spirit and severely condemned the 
methods of the Inquisition, demanding 
that it should cease its cruelty. The 
Inquisition's victims frequently fled to 
the Pope's territory and begged to be 
tried there. 

All in all, it is false to say that Holy 



Church was responsible for the Spanish 
Inquisition and its inhumanity. 

The Massacre of St. Bartholomew. 

The massacre of St. Bartholomew, in 
which perished a number of Huguenots 
and which took place in Paris on St. 
Bartholomew's Day, August 24th, 
1572, was one of those deplorable ex- 
cesses caused by influences arising from 
civil war in France, the brutal manner 
of those times, and the hatred existing 
between leaders of opposing political 
factions. 

Religion at no time approved of what 
was done in her name and covered with 
her cloak by an evil ruler, ambitious 
nobles, and misled fanatics. This terri- 
ble historical fact was not a work of 
religion. It was the result of fanati- 
cism, cunning, and hatred — all of 
which the church always condemns. 

Not a single priest took any part in 
the massacre. Many, including the 
Bishop of Lisieux, were particularly 
active in saving Huguenots, and in in- 
terceding with the King for them. 

The Voltair'e School of anti-Catholics, 
pictures the Cardinal of Lorraine 
"blessing the weapons of the Catho- 
lics," in preparation for the massacre. 
But history proves that the Cardinal 
was not in France at that time, being 
in Rome at the election of a new Pope. 

It is established beyond a doubt that 
the massacre was a political movement, 
designed by the crafty Catherine de 
Medici, mother of King Charles IX, to 
destroy a political party which was 
harassing and disquieting her govern- 
ment more and more. She sought to 
disguise her villainy by means of the 



CHARGES MADE AGAINST CHURCH. 279 



veil of religion, in order to secure the 
help of some misguided Catholic nobles. 
History, however, declares her to have 
been anything but a Catholic, in man- 
ner of life and in belief. 

A falsehood frequently repeated in 
connection with the St. Bartholomew 
massacre is that the Pope approved of 
it. On the contrary, the Pope expressed 
his disapproval in unmistakable terms 
when he received genuine information 
as to the nature of the matter — which 
was quite a while after it happened, 
the means of communication being very 
limited in those days. Before this he 
had been notified, through a special 
courier sent post haste by Catherine 
de Medici, that an attempt to murder 
the King, her son, and herself had been 
frustrated and that the would-be as- 
sassins had been punished. Where- 
upon the Pope naturally congratulated 
the King on his escape from death at 
the hand of assassins. But as soon as 
he learned the truth, he made his dis- 
approbation emphatically known. 

Papal Infallibility. 

There is not a doctrine of the Church 
more abused than that of Infallibility. 
There is not a doctrine less understood 
than this point of the Church and its 
teaching power. Catholics know that 
there must be a guiding influence. They 
ealize that Jesus Christ was a guide: 
they believe that He gave this power 
to His successor on earth. 

Infallibility does not mean that the 
Pope can never commit sin, nor that 
he cannot make a mistake. Infallibility 
is not impeccability. But it does mean 
that he cannot err in matters of faith 



and morals when he teaches "ex ca- 
thedra," that is, from the chair of St. 
Peter. 

The word infallibility when applied 
to the Pope does not mean that every- 
thing the Pope does is the wisest and 
most judicious that could be done; it 
does not mean that what he says as a 
preacher 1 or as a writer is necessarily 
free from error; it does not mean that 
in his office of supreme ecclesiastical 
judge he may not be mistaken, but it 
means that when he teaches the people 
as head of the church, he is protected 
from error by the special promise of 
God, who is Himself the source of in- 
fallibility, from wrongly interpreting 
the Word of God and from teaching 
error. As a private theologian or in 
some other limited character the Pope 
is not necessarily so protected, only 
when defining solemnly a doctrine in 
his capacity as successor to St. Peter, 
head of the Universal Church. 

A judge may be blamable in his pri- 
vate life, yet eminent and faultless in 
his official duties. It is not too much 
to believe then that the Pope is infal- 
lible as above outlined, and yet liable 
to commit sin. St. Peter was guilty of 
the sin of denial yet all Christians be- 
lieve him infallible in his teaching. 

Catholics believe that the Pope is 
assisted by the Holy Ghost when he 
teaches "ex cathedra." This has al- 
ways been the belief of the Church. 
The Vatican Council, 1870, solemnly 
declares this. St. Augustine used an 
expression which has become famous 
in commenting on the condemnation of 
the Pelagian heresy. "Rome has 
spoken, the case is ended." St. Jerome 



280 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



in the fourth century writes directly to 
Pope Damasus I for a decision on a 
question under discussion. "I who 
am but a sheep do apply to my shep- 
herd for succor." 

St. Irenaeus speaks of the headship 
of the Church, and numbers twelve 
Popes as direct successors to St. Peter 
up to his time. This was the common 
belief of the Fathers of the Church 
in the first five centuries. 

St. Luke xxii, 32, reports our Savior 
speaking directly to St. Peter. "I 
have prayed for thee that thy faith fail 
not, that thou being once converted 
confirm thy brethren." All the other 
apostles are here given to understand 
that they must come to Peter and fol- 
low his direction. 

St. Matthew xvi, 18. "Thou art 
Peter, and upon this rock I will build 
my church, and the gates of Hell shall 
not prevail against it." Because the 
Church of Christ was to exist long 
after Peter died, necessarily the power 
given to him must pass to his succes- 
sor. 

The promise of Christ to make a rock 
of Peter on which to build was then 
meant just as much for the successors 
of Peter who have continued in un- 
broken line from the time of St. Peter 
up until the present day. 

Alleged Failures of Infallibility. 

Now the Church's enemies charge 
that three Popes did err, in three differ- 
ent cases and that therefore the dogma 
of the Pope's infallibility is discred- 
ited. 

The three cases are those of Popes 



Liberius, Honorius and Alexander VII 
as charged. 

Pope Liberius (fourth century) is 
charged with having endorsed an 
Arian creed, that is to say, an heretical 
confession of faith. Suffice it to say 
here that there is no valid evidence in 
favor of the charge, not anything like 
proof that Pope Liberius did anything 
of the sort. 

Pope Honorius (seventh century) is 
charged with error sufficient to defeat 
the papal claim to infallibility, because 
he omitted to define a dogmatic truth. 
But a failure to define is certainly not 
a statement and it would take a Pope's 
false or mistaken statement — under all 
the conditions named above to in- 
validate the papal infallibility. 

Pope Alexander VII (1664) reissued 
the Index containing the condemnation 
(by the Congregation of the Index) of 
Galileo's defense of the Copernican 
theory, and approved that Index in a 
papal Bull (declaration) and he, too, 
is on this account charged with a 
breach of infallibility. But even if the 
fact be as stated, Pope Alexander's 
Bull was not dogmatic, did not concern 
a matter of either faith or morals. 

"Wherefore, the three charges fall to 
the ground. 

Right of the Church to Teach. 

"The Church is the pillar and the 
ground of truth." St. Paul. 

"The gates of Hell shall not prevail 
against it." St. Matthew xvi, 18. 

"I will ask the Father and He will 
give you another Paraclete, that He 
may abide with you forever." St. John 
VIV, 16. 



CHARGES MADE AGAINST CHURCH. 281 



"He will teach you all things." St. 
John xiv, 26. 

"As the Father has sent me, I also 
send you. ' ' St. John xx, 20. 

"He that heareth you, heareth Me, 
and he that dispiseth you, dispiseth 
Him that sent Me." St. Luke x, 16. 

"He that believeth and is baptized 
shall be saved ; he that believeth not, 
shall be condemned." St. Mark 
xiv, 16. 

Allegiance to the Pope. 

"But are not Catholics the subjects 
of a foreign prince, the Pope?" This 
slander — like almost everything else 
said against us — has been refuted so 
many thousand times already that we 
are almost afraid to tire the patience 
or insult the understanding of one 
readers by answering it again. No man 
of common intelligence or information 
need be told, at this late day, that the 
obedience we owe to the Pope is con- 
fined entirely to religion and spiritual 
things ; and that he neither claims, nor 
we allow, any jurisdiction over us in 
temporal matters affecting our civil al- 
legiance. This question has been so 
long settled throughout the civilized 
world that its revival at present ap- 
pears to be wholly useless, if not en- 
tirely absurd (Archbishop 

Spalding, of Baltimore, in a statment 
in 1855, before many of the present- 
day anti-Catholic bigots were born.) 

Allegiance. 

The statement that the Catholic 
Church is a "foreign" institution — 
that is, owes allegiance to a "foreign 



potentate," namely the Pope of Rome; 
the statement that the Pope aspires to 
be the temporal ruler of the world, 
that he is seeking to get power here in 
these United States, that (as the ex- 
cited imagination of these foolish men 
would have it) the Pope is actually en 
route for the White House — all this is 
rank nonsense! We say with the ut- 
most sincerity and with the utmost 
earnestness, absolutely and unequivo- 
cally, that we owe no civil allegiance to 
the Pope, that we do not recognize the 
Pope as our temporal ruler, that the 
Pope has nothing to say to us regard- 
ing our civil life. That is outside of 
his domain. We owe civil allegiance to 
our country alone and to our flag, to 
the United States and to the Stars and 
Stripes. Catholics, the country over, 
stand ready to defend every article 
of the Constitution, and to hold every 
star in this flag — hold it there, if needs 
be, by the shedding of their hearts' 
blood. This is an absolute, sincere and 
unequivocal statement, to which every 
Catholic, from the Bishops and priests 
of the country to the humblest layman 
of our land, can honestly and conscien- 
tiously subscribe. It is the only doc- 
trine on the subject that exists in the 
Catholic Church, and anything outside 
of that doctrine is absolutely false and 
un-Catholic. " (Bishop Schrembs, of 
Toledo, 0., in a Lenten sermon in St. 
Francis de Sales' Cathedral, Toledo, 
1914.) 

Galileo. 

To understand completely the case of 
Galileo it is necessary to have almost 
a thorough knowledge of astronomy 



282 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



with a distinct understanding of the 
science as known in his day. 

But it may be said that the world 
followed the opinions and theories of 
men who lived just before his time. 
Nicholas Cusa, who lived about 1431, 
Archdeacon of Liege was one of the 
greatest astronomers of his time. He 
laid down certain convictions which en- 
tirely upset all previous theories, and 
he was distinctly honored by the 
Church, receiving the highest dignity 
the Pope could confer upon him, that 
of Cardinal. Copernicus, who shared 
with Cusa the highest honors of the 
age, is another example of research and 
unusual talent. His theories were ac- 
cepted for more than two hundred 
years and the entire expense of pub- 
lishing his books, which were dedicated 
to the Pope, Paul III, was borne by a 
dignitary of the Church, Cardinal 
Shomberg. Every encouragement was 
given him by the Church authorities. 

Now if these men, priests of the 
Church, were so especially honored by 
the Church for their work in science, 
what is the reason that Galileo, who 
followed them, received different treat- 
ment ? It may be said that the troubles 
of Galileo arose simply and solely from 
the fact that he went further than his 
research warranted, and claimed for 
his opinions more than the arguments 
advanced to support them warranted 
him in claiming. Other authorities than 
the Church refused to accept Galileo, 
among them Lord Bacon in England. 
The expert opinion in the Church de- 
clared his discoveries to be undeniable, 
but they did not acknowledge that his 
proofs were absolute in demonstrating 



the truth of what he claimed. And he 
asserted it to be a demonstrated fact, 
treating with contempt all who called 
it into question. Thus far he could go 
without church action. 

Later, he attempted to prove his 
theory from Holy Scriptures, asserting 
that his contention was absolutely nec- 
essary for proper explanation of Scrip- 
ture. For this he was denounced, after 
he had become more and more persis- 
tent in his interference with Holy 
Scriptures, and more and more deter- 
mined in his efforts to force a decision 
from the Church. When he was or- 
dered to give up teaching, he submit- 
ted and retired into obscurity. 

He was never imprisoned, was per- 
fectly free in all his actions, living in 
a palace, continued to be a devout 
Catholic, frequently visiting his daugh- 
ters, who were cloistered nuns. 

Huxley, a non-Catholic, wrote of his 
case, "I have been looking into the 
Galileo matter and I find the Pope and 
the Cardinals had rather the best of 
it." 

It seems very easy today to say that 
the Church was wrong in this case, but, 
remember that at this time Protestants 
as well as Catholics denounced this self 
same opinion advanced by Galileo. The 
non-Catholic, Kepler, an astronomer, 
was denounced by the theological 
faculty of Tubingen (a Protestant 
University) for affirming the same 
scientific fact, which thirty-seven years 
later got Galileo into trouble. 

And Galileo's condemnation is no 
argument against the infallibility of 
the Church — even non-Catholic writers 
of note (De Morgan, Gebler, for in- 



CHARGES MADE AGAINST CHURCH. 283 



stance) admit that it (his condemna- 
tion) was the act of one of the separate 
branches, and not of the Church itself, 
which never declared on the point. 
(Mullers, Life of Galileo.) 

Savonarola* 

Girolamo Savonarola was born In 
1452 of an old family residing in Fer- 
rara. At the age of twenty-two he en- 
tered a monastery. He was not at first 
distinguished for particular ability in 
speaking, but it was noticed that he al- 
ways selected the same subject, speak- 
ing strongly against the pagan and 
immoral life of the society of the day. 
He was filled with an intense zeal for 
the salvation of souls. He advocated 
reforms in the rule of his own order, 
and set a splendid example of a very 
strict mode of living for himself. 

In later life, he preached with un- 
usual success, always attacking those 
in high places. In his denunciation of 
their sinfulness, he took the tone of a 
prophet, and vigorously announced the 
approaching judgment to be visited by 
God upon the sinners he denounced. 
He drew great crowds to hear him and 
developed considerable influence with 
the people. 

Perhaps because of this influence, he 
was drawn into politics and affairs of 
state, favoring Prance in the councils 
of Florence, and by his influence in- 
serting many principles in the govern- 
ment of the city. 

During this time he kept up his at- 
tack upon vice, favoring reforms and 
denouncing the sins of society. He be- 
came fanatical on this point, encourag- 
ing his followers to interference in pri- 



vate rights. Some members of a so- 
ciety, formed for the purpose of fur- 
thering his principles, regularly forced 
their way into private homes, confis- 
cating cards, dice, and other things, 
which they held as instruments of sin. 
Many other such objectionable methods 
were countenanced. He attained con- 
siderable success in his own city, and 
his attention was attracted to the rest 
of Italy. 

The Pope warned him about inter- 
ference in political affairs, and about 
interference with Church matters out- 
side his own duties. But, encouraged by 
the favor he received at home, he con- 
tinued. Eventually considerable feel- 
ing was aroused between his own fol- 
lowers and others who disapproved of 
his attacks and an uprising followed. 
He was encouraged in his outbreak by 
designing politicians ; the breach wid- 
ened and he remained defiant. The 
climax came when the two factions met 
openly in conflict. Savonarola was 
taken prisoner, tried, and convicted. 
Throughout, he remained faithful to 
the teachings of the Church, his at- 
tacks always being restricted to dis- 
ciplinary measures. 

Why Priests Do Not Marry. 

Celibacy is a measure of discipline 
in the Church, based upon the example 
of our Blessed Lord, upon the laws of 
the Old Testament which obliged 
priests to refrain from marriage rights 
for a period of days before entering 
upon the ceremonies of the sacrifice in 
the Temple, and upon the teaching of 
the Church and the words of St. Peter, 
' ' He that is married doth well ; but he 



284 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



that is not, doth better." St. Paul was 
the only Apostle to marry, and he with 
the others gave up family and relatives 
— "leaving all things they followed 
Him." The virginal state is the ideal 
state. Those who appear in the Sanc- 
tuary must lead a higher, purer and 
holier life than those in the world. Ce- 
libacy is not contrary to nature, but 
above nature. It is supernatural. 

From a practical point of view there 
are advantages. The priest has no fam- 
ily ties. He is therefore free to go 
where he is sent. He can expose him- 
self to pestilence and famine, which he 
could not do if a family were depend- 
ing on him. 

A good wife may be a positive help 
to a minister, but would not the aver- 
age wife influence her husband in the 
care of his flock? Would she not stir 
up trouble in her social efforts ? Would 
the husband be as ready as the unmar- 
ried man to appear at the bedside of 
contagion ? Would he not be solicitous 
for the things of the world, and swayed 
by the consideration of pleasing his 
wife at the expense of his work? Is 
not the eligible young clergyman a 
source of distraction and trouble among 
a certain element of his flock? 

Is continency impracticable? Some 
go so far as to assert this. Those uxori- 
ously inclined find it hard to under- 
stand that anyone can live a life of ce- 
libacy. But in this belief they impugn 
the wisdom of Jesus Christ and His 
Apostles, who lived in the state of con- 
tinency and recommended it to others. 
They slander all priests and nuns and 
they unwittingly question the life of 
their own unmarried sisters, brothers, 



daughters, and sons. And then, the ap- 
parent severity of the law of celibacy 
is lessened by the fact that one enters 
the state of his own free will, and only 
after mature consideration — the candi- 
dates for the priesthood averaging 
twenty-four or five years of age before 
ordination. 

Thus, the priest does not marry that 
he may obtain greater efficiency and 
better exterior application to his work. 
But principally, he does not marry 
that he may love God more ardently. 
And the experience of two thousand 
years has proved that this disciplinary 
ruling of the Catholic Church is suc- 
cessful. 

The Alleged Jesuit Motto. 

Thanks to its tireless energy and 
ability in the propagation of Catholic 
truth, the Jesuit Order has never been 
popular with the enemies of Holy 
Church. It is not strange, therefore, 
that the Society of Jesus should have 
been made the object of many gross 
slanders. 

Among these, the most vicious is 
probably the charge regarding the So- 
ciety's motto. 

The real and only motto of the So- 
ciety of Jesus is Ad Majorem Dei Glo- 
riam, which means "for the greater 
glory of God," rightly expressing the 
purpose of the Order. But the sland- 
erers charge that the Jesuit's motto 
is: "The end justifies the means," 
and that, under this motto, the Jesuits 
are taught to commit any crime what- 
soever toward the attainment of an end 
which their superiors consider a good 
one. This, of course, is a lie out of 



CHARGES MADE AGAINST CHURCH. 285 



whole cloth. The Jesuits have never 
had such a motto and have never beea 
taught to use unlawful means. Un- 
doubtedly, they do hold, with all other 
thinking men, that means which are not 
bad are made positively good by the 
fact that they tend towards a good end. 

The Fable of "Pope Joan," the 
Woman Pope. 

.... The story of "Pope Joan" is, 
as J. P. Hirsch says, ' ' a pure figment of 
the imagination." The myth is re- 
jected by every respected scholar, 
whether Catholic, Protestant or infidel. 
Among the two latter classes, we may 
name thirteen separate authorities. 
There is no room for the fictitious Joan 
in the place which she is supposed to 
have occupied in history, i. e., between 
Benedict III and Leo IV; for Leo 
died July 17, 855; and immediately 
after his death, Benedict III was 
elected by the clergy and people of 
Rome, and was consecrated September 
29, that year. The celebrated historian, 
Dollinger, who became a schismatic 
after 1870, had given the most ex- 
haustive exposure of the fable in his 
well known work, "Fables Respecting 
the Popes in the Middle Ages." 

.... "The myth of the woman 
Pope was not definitely put into writ- 
ing before the middle of the thirteenth 

century Now, is it conceivable 

that the appearance of a 'Popess,' if 
it were an historical fact, should pass 
absolutely unnoticed by all the histor- 
ians and writers — and they were nu- 
merous — from the tenth to the thir- 
teenth century? 

. . . . "No one with self-respect, 



however anxious to blacken the Cath- 
olic Church, would identify his name 
with such a ridiculous and exploded 
myth ; honest Protestants, with any ed- 
ucation, would not touch it with the 
end of an Orange procession pole ; and 
it is therefore left to the uneducated, 
stupid, and unscrupulous bigots of the 
gutter to rake up now and again, even 
though they, themselves, do not be- 
lieve it." 

Fictitious Bulls. 

By a "Bull" is understood an of- 
ficial document issued to members of 
the Church bearing the approval of the 
Holy Father. Forged documents of 
this kind are not unknown in history. 
There was the case of a person in the 
twelfth century who was punished for 
forging a papal bull, authorizing the 
clergy of Norway to say Mass without 
wine. 

In 1873 a forged bull appeared pur- 
porting to make new regulations for 
papal elections. It was published in 
Germany. The signature of Pope 
Pius IX was a forgery. 

In 1905 another document appeared, 
supposed to authorize South American 
clergy to marry. It was widely circu- 
lated by designing persons and was an 
absolute forgery. 

In 1893 in the stress of the A. P. A. 
movement, an alleged Papal Encyclical 
was published in a Detroit paper, issue 
of April 8th. This weird document or- 
dered a massacre of all Protestants in 
the United States on the feast of St. 
Ignatius, July 31st. This forgery 
caused widespread fear. Elbert Hub- 
bard testified to this in his paper, the 



286 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Arena, July, 1894. The anti-Catholic 
press (American Citizen, Boston) ad- 
mitted that every A. P. A. editor in 
America used the lie. Ignatius Don- 
nelly in a debate with Prof. Sims, an 
A. P. A. lecturer, forced Sims to admit 
that his organization sent out this 
forged document. 

The Alleged Bull of Pope Adrian. 

This is an instance of designing poli- 
ticians who had no hesitation in forg- 
ing a Papal document to suit their pur- 
poses. Such a forgery is the mythical 
bull of Pope Adrian IV in which he is 
supposed to address King Henry II of 
England in the year 1168, urging him 
to invade the neighboring kingdom of 
Ireland and establish there right of 
dominion. This claim has been made 
frequently by those favoring Eng- 
land's dominion over Ireland. 

Concerning this fictitious document 
nothing was ever heard during the life- 
time of Pope Adrian IV. After his 
death, Anglo-Norman invaders of Ire- 
land claimed to possess it and sought to 
undermine the resistance of the Irish 
people by citation of this so-called au- 
thority from Eome. 

Yet, there is no record of anyone see- 
ing it. Years after a copy was shown 
the Irish people. When in 1308 this 
copy was shown authorities of the 
Church in Rome, they had no hesitation 
in pronouncing it a forgery. 

The most complete exposure of this 
fake is found in "Monastic Life in the 
Middle Ages" by Cardinal Gasquet. He 
pronounces the bull, Laudabiliter, al- 
leged to have been issued by Pope 
Adrian as the world's greatest forgery. 



Being a British subject, the Cardinal 
may be assumed to be an unbiased wit- 
ness. There is no denying his abilities 
and his opportunities for research both 
in England and at the Vatican. 

The Suffering in Purgatory. 

The precise nature of the suffering 
in Purgatory has never been defined 
by the Church. The soul is separated 
from the body by death, and not 
reunited with it until the general judg- 
ment, so bodily pains, as we understand 
them, seem impossible. Nevertheless, all 
suffering is in the soul, and continuance 
of suffering after death is possible. It 
would seem, however, that the principal 
suffering would be that which comes 
from the separation of the soul from 
God, the Author of its being, whom it 
most ardently desires, and with whom 
it longs to be reunited in Heaven. 

Indulgences. 

An indulgence is not a permission to 
commit sin, as some non-Catholics 
think. As the word is used in English, 
sometimes it means permission to do 
things not ordinarily tolerated. But 
at no time is this meaning attached to 
what the Church and Catholics under- 
stand as Indulgences. In the case of 
an indulgent parent who tries to cor- 
rect his children's faults by love and 
kindness, and therefore remits some 
portion of the punishment ordinarily 
due those faults, we have a better idea 
of the attitude of the Church in preach- 
ing the use of "Indulgences." 

In the early days, severe penalties 
were imposed upon those who fell into 
grievous sins, especially if those sins 



CHARGES MADE AGAINST CHURCH. 287 



were public or scandalous. This of 
course presupposed repentance on the 
part of the sinner. Fasting, for in- 
stance, was one penalty. Sinners were 
required to remain at a certain place 
at the Church door during public serv- 
ice. The length of time differed in 
various places. But gradually these 
heavy penances relaxed. 

Thus, when we say an indulgence of 
one year may be gained for perform- 
ance of certain good works, we mean 
the equivalent of one year of this pub- 
lic penance, formerly exacted. The 
present form of indulgence is substi- 
tuted for the canonical penance which 
of old would have been assigned for 
that length of time. 

It is well known that no one can ob- 
tain an indulgence unless he is in a 
state of grace, entirely free from sin. 
Confession must therefore precede as a 
first and necessary condition. Other 
conditions are attached to each form of 
indulgence, such as prayers for the 
Intention of the Church, reception of 
Holy Communion, etc., which may bo 
found in explanation of any particular 
indulgence. 

Charge That Indulgences Were Sold. 

Indulgeneies were never sold. The 
only possible basis for such a charge 
lies in the fact that good works are 
sometimes enumerated among the 
things that may assist in properly gain- 
ing an indulgence. As good works in- 
clude offerings for charity, the money 
offering made by a repentant person 
for such purpose, entirely separate as 
it is, is misunderstood to be a necessary 
condition. All Catholics know this to 



be not the case, recalling the number 
of times they have gained indulgences 
and knowing that the good works men- 
tioned are not a necessary condition. 
Indulgences may be gained without any 
offering of money or expense of any 
kind. The proper dispositions of a 
penitent form the sole requirement. 

Archbishop Spalding, in his ''His- 
tory of the Reformation" (Vol. 1), 
says : 

' ' The abuse and alleged sale of indul- 
gences afforded the principal pretext 
for the first movements of the Reforma- 
tion. The Church had always main- 
tained her power to grant indulgences ; 
she never sanctioned, in her official ca- 
pacity, the abuses which, at some times 
and in some places, grew out of the 
exercise of this power." He then ex- 
plains the nature of indulgences and 
the circumstances attending the erec- 
tion of St. Peter's, and adds: "We 
have no mission to defend the extrava- 
gances imputed to this man (Tetzel). 
To us it appears that much injustice 
has been done him, and that his er- 
rors have been greatly exaggerated by 
his enemies. One thing is certain, that 
the abuses of which he is accused were 
not authorized by the Church or the 
Pontiff. The acts of Tetzel were offi- 
cially disavowed by the representatives 
of the Roman Court. In 1519, Charles 
Miltitz, the papal envoy, openly re- 
buked him, for his conduct in the affair 
of the indulgences; and even charged 
him with having been the occasion of 
most of the troubles which during the 
previous two years had afflicted Ger- 
many. He, however, condemned the 
friar unheard, relying entirely upon 



288 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



the exaggerated representations of his 
enemies. He would not even allow the 
Dominican to defend himself against 
the grievous charges brought against 
him by Luther, and he (Tetzel) died 
soon after, most probably of chagrin." 

Both of the histories mentioned con- 
tain extensive details and references, 
as to several other histories of the 
Church, which may be easily procured 
from Catholic book-sellers. 

Dispensations. 

A dispensation is a relaxation of a 
law made by the Church for some rea- 
son, not sufficient in itself to excuse one 
from that law. For instance a person 
not sick enough to be excused by the 
sickness itself from abstinence on Fri- 
day, may be excused by the laws of the 
Church. The obligation is removed in 
this particular case. Anyone who has 
the power of making a law can also 
unmake it, and he can give permission 
to others to dispense in this way from 
that law. It is understood, however, 
that although a law-maker can dis- 
pense from his own laws, he cannot dis- 
pense from the eternal laws of God. The 
Church, therefore, never grants dispen- 
sation in matters of morality, or in 
other branches of God's law, but only 
in those things which of themselves 
are indifferent, such as abstinence men- 
tioned above. 

In Divine Law, the Church never in- 
terferes, except in so far as to inter- 
pret it. She cannot say that any act 
is a sin against divine law and then 
give permission to perform that act. 
And the Church never does this. The 
marriage question, when a favorable de- 



cision upon the request of Henry VIII 
for a divorce from his lawful wife 
would have saved England to the 
Church, was declared to concern a di- 
vine law, and, therefore, the king's re- 
quest for permission to set aside his 
wife and marry again was absolutely 
ef used. 

Cremation. 

The Catholic Church is opposed to 
cremation of the human body for sev- 
eral reasons. The idea offends our 
Christian instincts, for we are taught 
to regard death as a sleep ; the dead 
sleep in Christ, for they will rise again ; 
they are laid to rest in peace, and tha 
idea of the rest which they enjoy is op- 
posed to cremation. Again, as Chris- 
tians we have a high esteem for the 
soul, which partakes of the divine na- 
ture, and consequently, for the body, 
which is the servant of the soul. Only 
those who are lost to all sense of tho 
dignity of human nature can desire 
cremation for themselves. 

The Catholic Church condemns cre- 
mation partly on practical grounds and 
partly on certain broad, general prin- 
ciples; and of these latter, not the 
least important is the fact that in its 
origin cremation was associated in the 
minds of the majority — and still is, 
by many of its chief supporters — with 
the denial of a belief in a future life. 
It is interesting to note that high Jewish 
authorities reprobate the practice on 
precisely similar grounds. In Bavaria 
the propaganda of cremation by ex- 
treme Socialists and others has lately 
become so insistent that even Catholics 
were affected by it. The Bavarian 



CHARGES MADE AGAINST CHURCH. 289 



Episcopate deemed it advisable to is- 
sue an explicit statement of the Cath- 
olic attitude on the question. The op- 
position of the Bishops to the practice 
has been strongly seconded by the 
Chief Eabbi, Dr. M. Lerner, who wrote 
as follows: 

"Not less reprehensible than the 
ancient heathen practice of burning the 
body, that sign of idolatrous error, is 
the modern practice of incineration, 
which constitutes a public demonstra- 
tion on the part of atheism and 
monism against religion." . . . Cre- 
mation, therefore, which undermines 
faith in the resurrection and immortal- 
ity, is no indication of any progress 
upon which modern culture may pride 
itself, but a retrogression into bar- 
barian impiety, and a return to pagan 
brutality. 

Cremation is then a transgression of 
the divine commandment ordaining the 
consigning of the body to the earth ; 
it is a desecration of the mortal re- 
mains ; it is a refusal of that reparation 
for sin which is said to be connected 
with the dissolution of the human body 
in the earth, and thus of its conversion 
into the dust from which it came; and 
lastly, it is a public denial of belief in 
God and of a final judgment. 

Predestination. 

It can not be said, strictly speaking, 
that there is predestination of the 
wicked who are lost ; because, although 
God knows beforehand their resistance 
to His grace, their obstinacy in sin, and 
their final condemnation, yet it can not 
be said that because He knows before- 
hand He therefore wills beforehand, 



and by willing causes the works of the 
wicked. That attitude is wrong. The 
fact that God has poured upon them. 
His grace to enable them to do good 
proves the very contrary. If God by 
His grace, which He refuses to none, 
stirs and enables us to avoid sin, He 
cannot be said to lead us into sin 
should we resist His grace. 

The second Council of Orange (near 
Avignon, in France), A. D. 529, de- 
clared against predestination ; St. 
Fulgentius says: "Never could God 
have predestined man to that which 
He had Himself intended to forbid by 
His precept, and to blot out by His 
mercy and to punish by His justice." 

Catholics do not believe that any soul 
is predestined by God to be lost, or that 
God causes any man to fall into sin and 
thus be lost. This the Catholic Church 
condemns as an impious and monstrous 
doctrine. We believe that God foresees 
everything. But this foreknowledge 
can not properly be called predestina- 
tion. In fact the word "predestina- 
tion" is never applied in Holy Scrip- 
ture to those who are lost. It may 
properly be called prescience, foresee- 
ing, prevision, or judicial reprobation, 
which expressions do not imply that 
God has an active part in their having 
deserved that doom. 

If any should ask why God, who can 
predestinate some to eternal life, can 
not predestinate others to everlasting 
condemnation, the answer is plain. 
Salvation is an act of mercy, and can 
be granted even to one who has no 
merit; condemnation is an act of jus- 
tice and a punishment, and can only 
be inflicted on a guilty person; and 



290 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



therefore God can predestinate only 
in the former case and not in the other, 
because God can not be unjust. 

To this purpose St. Augustine elo- 
quently says, referring to punishment 
and reward: "God returns evil for 
evil because He is just; good for evil, 
because He is good; good for good be- 
cause He is good and just; only He 
does not render evil for good because 
He is not unjust." (On Grace and 
Free-will, chap. 23.) 

On the other hand, the foreknowl- 
edge of God about the perdition of 
some men has not the least influence 
over their actions, and no one will be 
lost in consequence of God's necessary 
foreknowledge, but only because that 
one has himself deserved such condem- 
nation. 

Catholics ajid Politics. 

Writing under this title, May 11, a 
writer in "America" protested against 
Catholics being made the football of 
political parties or candidates. "Cath- 
olics have," he said, "and in their po- 
litical affiliations are guided by, as 
large a variety of views on public ques- 
tions as other Americans, and cast 
their votes accordingly. Politico-re- 
ligious questions, which are remotely 
contingent and which any candidate 
who is likely to become President could 
treat in only one way, have slight in- 
fluence, if any, on their political ac- 
tion." He added that the Catholic 
clergy never deliver political harangues 
from the pulpit, and it is not for po- 
litical instruction that Catholics go to 
Church. 

Nor is it for such purpose they sub- 



scribe to Catholic papers. Rarely does 
any editor go so far as to express polit- 
ical views. Catholic publicists have, 
of course, as much right as others to 
express their political preferences 
when they speak or write in their ca- 
pacity as citizens, but they have no 
right to commit or appear to commit 
the Catholic Church, or what is called 
"the Catholic vote," to such prefer- 
ences. There is no such thing as a Cath- 
olic vote. There is nothing to prevent 
Catholics from voting for whom they 
please if politically so inclined. No 
writer, speaker or journal is author- 
ized to advise on a political subject, 
or justified in opposing it, on Catholic 
grounds. There are Catholics of good 
standing prominently connected with 
all political parties, and if a sense 
of the public good determines their ac- 
tion, their consciences may be at rest. 

With regard to alleged unfriendli- 
ness towards Catholics of certain candi- 
dates, so often charged, we can say that, 
as a rule, the writings, speeches, and 
administrative acts of the men attacked 
not only do not always justify such sus- 
picions, but afford many evidences of 
broad-mindedness and impartiality. 
Catholics should determine their polit- 
ical alignments conscientiously and in- 
telligently and exercise the suffrage 
with a view only to the general inter- 
ests of the country. A Catholic, like 
every good citizen, should cast his 
vote for the candidates, presidential or 
otherwise, whom he judges best fitted 
to promote the national welfare ; and in 
so doing he will best serve the interests 
of his people and his church. 



CHARGES MADE AGAINST CHURCH. 291 



The Catholic Vote. 

Conde B. Pallen, one of the editors 
of the Catholic Encyclopedia, had a 
very sensible article on this very sub- 
ject in the New York Sun some years 
ago. Amongst other very good things 
he said : 

"So far from its being true that 
there is a 'Catholic vote' or that the 
Church authorities either have any in- 
fluence upon Catholics in politics or 
seek to exert any influence, it would 
seem that the last consideration in the 
minds of Catholics in voting is their re- 
ligious point of view. A number of in- 
stances recited by my correspondents 
show that Catholics, even when candi- 
dates for office are Catholics them- 
selves, divide their vote according to 
their party affiliations or according to 
the merits of the issue and the candi- 
dates, utterly irrespective of the lat- 
ters' religious affiliations. Catholics 
running for office in communities 
where there are a large number of 
Catholics voting are defeated again 
and again, and their non-Catholic op- 
ponents are frequently elected. 

During various campaigns when un- 
due pressure was brought to bear upon 
representatives of the Church to se- 
cure their influence in favor of a cer- 
tain candidate, invariably the answer 
was that they had nothing to say upon 
the question. Their utterances should 
go far to discredit the old slander that 
the Church is in politics. 

The K. of C. Oath. 

The old charge made by enemies of 
the Church who fear the growth of the 



Knights of Columbus — that all mem- 
bers of the Society are disloyal, cannot 
be good citizens of the United States, 
etc., has been refuted often. Any ar- 
guments we can use will not stop such 
calumnies. 

Further to demonstrate the infamy 
of anti-Catholic attack by influences 
which have been circulating this an- 
cient lie, we publish a statement made 
public in Los Angeles, California, some 
time ago, and signed by Masons of 
high standing: 

"We hereby certify that by author- 
ity of the highest officer of the Knights 
of Columbus in the state of California, 
who acted under instructions from the 
supreme officer of the order in the 
United States, we were furnished a 
complete copy of all the work, cere- 
monies and pledges used by the order, 
and that we carefully read, discussed 
and examined same. We found that 
while the order is in a sense a secret 
association, it is not an oath-bound or- 
ganization and that its ceremonies are 
comprised in four degrees, which are 
intended to teach and inculcate princi- 
ples that lie at the foundation of every 
great religion and every free state. 
Our examination of these ceremonials 
and obligations was made primarily for 
the purpose of ascertaining whether or 
not a certain alleged oath of the 
Knights of Columbus, which has been 
printed and widely circulated, was in 
fact used by the order and whether, if 
it was not used, any oath, obligation or 
pledge was used which was or would be 
offensive to Protestants or Masons, or 
those who are engaged in circulating a 
document of peculiar viciousness and 



292 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



wickedness. We find that neither the 
alleged oath nor any oath or pledge 
bearing the remotest resemblance 
thereto in matter, manner, spirit, or 
purpose, is used or forms a part of the 
ceremonies of any degree of the 
Knights of Columbus. The alleged oath 
is scurrilous, wicked, and libelous, and 
must be the invention of an impious 
and venomous mind. We find that the 
order of Knights of Columbus, as 
shown by its rituals, is dedicated to the 
Catholic religion, charity, and patriot- 
ism. There is no propaganda proposed 
or taught against Protestants or Ma- 
sons, or persons not of Catholic faith. 
Indeed, Protestants and Masons are 
not referred to directly or indirectly in 
the ceremonials and pledges. The cere- 
monial of the order teaches a high and 
noble patriotism, instills a love of coun- 
try, inculcates a reverence for law and 
order, urges the conscientious and un- 
selfish performance of civic duty and 
holds up the constitution of our coun- 
try as the richest and most precious 
possession of a knight of the order. We 
can find nothing in the entire ceremo- 
nials of the order that to our minds 
could be objected to by any person. 

"Signed. 

"MOTLEY HUGHES FLINT, 33d 
Degree, Past Grand Master of Ma- 
sons of California. 

"DANA REID WELLER, 32d De- 
gree, Past Grand Master of Masons 
of California. 

"WILLIAM RHODES HERVET, 
33d Degree, Past Master and Master 
of Scottish Rite Lodge. 

"SAMUEL E. BURKE, 32d Degree, 



Past Master and Inspector of Ma- 
sonic District." 

This should open the eyes of those 
who so easily believe the ancient lie3. 
If they will not accept our statement 
of fact, at least they cannot overlook 
the investigations of non-Catholics 
whose names appear above. 

Is the Church Opposed to Science? 

A great many people are of the im- 
pression that the Catholic Church i* 
opposed to the study of science. It is 
claimed that the Church would lose it3 
influence over its people if ever they 
should stray very far into scientific 
investigation. It is said that science 
and faith are incompatible and that the 
Church will not have the faith of her 
children disturbed or undermined by 
the revelations of science. 

These, of course, are false notions. 
Study of scientific development will 
prove that science has always been en- 
couraged by the Church and that mod- 
ern science in particular received its 
impetus in Catholic universities and 
in other Church institutions of learn- 
ing. In astronomy, the Galileo inci- 
dent explained elsewhere in this volume 
is used to further the charge of an- 
tagonism. The attitude of the Church 
is fully explained under that head. 
What individual Catholics have done 
in scientific research further refutes 
the charges. 

Inventions by Catholics. 

Catholics invented the barometer, 
thermometer, stereometer, electrometer, 
helioscope, camera obscura, and the 



CHARGES MADE AGAINST CHURCH. 293 



mariners compass, the diving bell, the 
air pump and the magic lantern. 

To Catholics we owe photography, 
accentuation, church bells, clocks, 
stained glass, artesian wells, spectacles, 
organs and the steam engine. The 
planetary movements were first ob- 
served by Grassi, a Jesuit priest. 

The first to discover the sun's equa- 
tor was Buscovitch, another Jesuit. 
Torricelli discovered the gravity of the 
air; Tournefort first grouped plants 
into genera; Virgilius, a Catholic bis- 
hop, discovered the sphericity of the 
earth and the Jesuit, Lane, wrote the 
first book on aerial navigation. 

The Gregorian calendar is the work 
of a Pope. The Catholic, Cabot, dis- 
covered the variation of the compass. 
Grimaldi, a priest, discovered the in- 
flection of light. Galvani, a priest, dis- 
covered the electric current of gal- 
vanism. Abbe Hany discovered the 
laws of crystallization. 

The first works on jurisprudence, 
science of perspective, medical art, 
anatomy, algebra, and universal his- 
tory was written by Catholics. 

The father of modern astronomy, 
Regiomontanus, was a Catholic and also 
a priest. Copernicus was a canon of 
of the Cathedral at Frauenberg, and 
his work was dedicated to the Pope. 
The Jesuit Fathers always have en- 
couraged the development of science — 
Father Piazzi and Father Secchi, 
Father Perry of Stonyhurst, Father 
Hagen of Rome, being especially prom- 
inent in recent years. 

In geology all the known specialists 
of olden times were Catholics, Father 
Kircher in the 17th century wrote 



what still continues to be recognized 
as authoritative research remarkable 
in that period. Steno, a Danish scholar 
and a convert, laid the foundation for 
modern geology by his treatment of 
fossils. Father M 'Every in England 
gave great service in this branch of 
science. 

In biology, teachers at Rome and 
Bologna, Catholic universities, led in 
the development of anatomy and physi- 
ology. Vesalius, Eustachius, Varolius, 
Columbus, Caesalpinus, Malpighi, all 
these are honored names in the science 
of healing. 

Pasteur, the great French bacteriolo- 
gist, who revolutionized modern medi- 
cine, and the abbot Mendel, an Augus- 
tinian, who made discoveries in hered- 
ity, are great men within the Church. 
The Abbe Tremblay, Redi, an Italian, 
and Needham and Burke, Englishmen, 
were prominent in science. Father 
Wasmann, S. J., is a great contributor 
to biological science in the present day. 
Father David, C. M., is an acknowledged 
leader in the study of botany, geology, 
and paleontology. Prof. Van Beneden, 
of the University of Louvain, is an 
important contributor, who has been 
honored by the French Institute of 
Science for an exhaustive study of 
worms. Theodor Schwann and Johann 
Muller were working in biology at Ber- 
lin when to Schwann came the realiza- 
tion of cells in all animal tissues. He 
taught in the Catholic University at 
Liege. Claude Bernard, a French pro- 
fessor in physiology, laid the founda- 
tion of much that is modern in that 
science. Henri Fabre was a famous 
entomologist. Professor Roentgen, 



294 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



working in a Catholic University, de- 
veloped the X-ray, which also bears his 
name. Wireless telegraphy came to 
us from Marconi, also a Catholic. 
Earlier students of electricity of whom 
Catholics should be proud are Volta 
and Galvani of the Third Order of St. 
Francis, Coulomb, Ohm, Ampere, who 
lent their names to particular develop- 
ments of their life's work. The first 
practical electrical machine was made 
by a Benedictine priest, Father Becca- 
ria, a member of the Royal Society of 
England, who had his discoveries in 
electricity published by that society. 

Corrigan, a distinguished physician, 
made the first practical cardiac diag- 
nosis. Dr. Finlay was prominent iu 
attack upon the yellow fever. Dr. 
'Dwyer of New York invented intuba- 
tion, for the prevention of much human 
suffering. Prof. Thomas Dwight of 
Harvard has made studies which gave 
him an international reputation. Sir 
William Hingston of Montreal was 
honored in England and America for 
his work in surgery. Wm. Carr, Wash- 
ington, was an X-ray authority. Dr. 
James J. Walsh, to whose research this 
resume is due, is an authority on nerv- 
ous diseases. Dr. John B. Murphy at- 
tracted more attention than perhaps 
any other surgeon in America for his 
work in the Mercy Hospital, Chicago. 

Others who are eminent in the heal- 
ing profession are Dr. Shannon of Se- 
attle, conspicuous in work for the 
blind; Dr. Austin O'Malley of Phila- 
delphia, bacteriologist; Dr. Storer, 
Newport, R. I., in obstetrics; Dr. 
Scheppegrell, New Orleans, specialist 
in eye, ear, nose, and throat ; Dr. 



Flick of Philadelphia, tuberculosis ; 
Dr. Clemens, St. Louis, children's dis- 
eases ; Dr. Ryan of Fordham, N. Y., 
active in Red Cross work ; Dr. Coyle of 
New York, cancer. 

Simply, there is no incompatibility 
between science and faith, and Catho- 
lics by their work and interest in pres- 
ent day development of science are 
proving this. We have more than our 
share of great artists, poets, architects, 
because religion proves a stimulus to 
the constructive faculties and not a 
hindrance as is charged against us. 
Dr. James J. Walsh ("Catholics in 
Modern Science"), Sir Bertram Win- 
die ("Debts that Science owes Catho- 
lics"), Father Cortie, S. J. 

Anglican Orders. 

The claim is made by members of 
the Anglican (Episcopalian) church, 
that they can trace their origin to 
Apostolic times, and, that therefore, a 
question that came up during the Ox- 
ford Movement, when so many clergy- 
men of the Church of England came 
over to the Church, was wrongly de- 
cided by the Church of Rome. These 
clergymen, who wished to become 
priests, were ordained according to the 
ceremonies of the Catholic Church. It 
was claimed that their ordination in 
the Church of England was valid and 
that therefore the ceremony of the 
Catholic Church was unnecessary. 

Guggenberger, the well known his- 
torian, tells the story of the first or- 
dinations in the Church of England as 
follows : "To fill the sees which had 
been deprived of Catholic bishops, 
Queen Elizabeth, in 1559, invested 



CHARGES MADE AGAINST CHURCH. 295 



Matthew Parker as Archbishop of Can- 
terbury. As no Catholic bishop could 
be found to consecrate Parker, the 
Queen, 'through the plenitude of her 
ecclesiastical power,' supplied all the 
defects of his election and consecration. 
Accordingly, Parker was consecrated 
by Barlow, the heretical ex-bishop of 
Bath and Wells, who had been removed 
under Queen Mary. Barlow was most 
probably never consecrated himself, 
and believed neither in priesthood nor 
sacrifice. Consequently, Parker, from 
whom all Anglican Ordinations are de- 
rived, was never consecrated. Monsig- 
nor Barnes, England, discussed Bar- 
low's status in a recent work, as above 
outlined. 

It can readily be understood why 
the practice of ordaining convert 
clergymen has been insisted upon. An- 
glicans maintain that facts were never 
properly presented to the Holy See. In 
1894, the Pope determined to have the 
whole matter investigated, and a com- 
mission was appointed to hear the evi- 
dence on both sides. The results, laid 
before a council of Cardinals under 
the Presidency of the Pope, decided 
that Anglican Orders were invalid. 

Anglicans and Greeks. 

In the years following the war, 
negotiations were instituted between 
the Anglican church heads both in 
England and America, and the Eastern 
Orthodox churches with a view to rec- 
ognition of the validity of Anglican 
Orders, a claim denied by the Catholic 
Church. 

Meletios IV, installed as Patriarch 
of Constantinople, took it upon himself 



to recognise their validity. A compli- 
cation is here found in the fact that 
Meletios, while installed, was declared 
have been invalidly elected to his place. 
His opponents said that his only claim 
to the office was political influence on 
the part of England and Prance, and 
of friends in America. 

Even if Meletios was regularly em- 
powered to afford such recognition, 
his decision would bind only his own 
self-governing national church and not 
any of the other Orthodox churches, 
which have separate jurisdiction and 
are found in many eastern countries. 

English churchmen and prominent 
American Episcopalians offered much 
honor to Meletios. Yet a commission 
from his own patriarchate failed to 
approve his views concerning Angli- 
cans. Even, however, if completely 
favorable issue should later result, 
there remains the fact that many Epis- 
copalian and Anglican clergymen are 
not at all interested in the issue. They 
deny that they are or wish to be sacri- 
ficing priests. They claim to be just 
plain parsons with no idea of approval 
of the whole issue. 

The Church of Ancient Britain. 

The Anglican Church and its Amer- 
ican counterpart, the Episcopal 
Church, present a claim to the existence 
of a church in Britain before the com- 
ing of St. Augustine in the year 597, — 
a church that was the parent of the 
present Church of England and inde- 
pendent even then of the Church of 
Rome. 

Now there is no question about the 
existence of a church in England befotfe 



296 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



the coming of St. Augustine. But that 
church was not independent of Rome 
as our Anglican friends would have us 
believe. Christianity came to Britaiu 
towards the end of the first century in 
the person of two missionaries sent by 
the Pope. St. Alban was the first Brit- 
ish martyr, giving up his life in the 
year 303. Three British Bishops at- 
tended the Council of Aries in 314, 
where they wrote to Pope Sylvester, 
then reigning, a letter of commenda- 
tion which is still extant. Later St. 
Germanus of Auxerre, sent by Pope 
Celestine, preached successfully 
against the spread of the Pelagian 
heresy in 427. Palladus was sent by 
Pope Celestine as Bishop of Scotland. 
So it is clearly absurd to claim special 
independence for the British Church. 
There is very clear proof of the rela- 
tions between Britain and the Holy 
See. 

Again when St. Augustine, sent from 
Rome, assembled the British bishops Li 
Council, the records prove that he 
found no fault with their teaching or 
their faith. The views which Catholics 
of today hold are there expressed. St. 
Augustine especially asked the assist- 
ance of the British bishops in his work, 
and the venerable Bede, authority of 
this period, says that the advisers of 
these Bishops who gathered about St. 
Augustine were monks, chosen from a 
community of 2,100, who lived a life of 
celibacy in the monastery of Bangor, 
fasted, offered the Holy Sacrifice of 
the Mass and showed special devotion 
towards the Blessed Virgin, practices 
found at no time in the Church of Eng- 
land. 



Is One Religion As Good As Another? 

The modern man outside the Church 
proclaims that he is not a believer in 
dogma and not wedded to any fixed 
creed. Respect the code of social mor- 
ality, pay your debts, shock not your 
neighbor by any offence against deco- 
rum, and then it matters little or noth- 
ing what your faith may be, he be- 
lieves. Yet this theory has no founda- 
tion in either reason or revelation. It 
is against reason. To say that God is 
equally pleased with all religions is to 
say that God is equally pleased with 
truth and error and that two contradic- 
tories can both be true. This is obvious 
from the numerous brands of religion 
on the market. It is said that though 
the different religions do contradict one 
another, still the points of difference 
are trivial, and the points of agree- 
ment are fundamental. But who is go- 
ing to give us a rule by which to dis- 
tinguish fundamentals from non-fun- 
damentals ? They who assert this have 
not a line of Scripture to justify them. 
Is it not clear that to presume a revela- 
tion only to sift it, and to reject cer- 
tain truths therein is blasphemy, naked 
and unashamed? Is it not a challenge 
to God to set aside any law that He 
has given them? 

If one religion is as good as another 
why do Protestants send Bibles by the 
ton, and money in thousands of dol- 
lars for the conversion of the Budd- 
hists ? They answer that faith in Christ 
is an essential of salvation. But what 
is the principle of this limitation ? Let 
the indifferent enunciate the principle, 
if he can, according to which you may 



CHARGES MADE AGAINST CHURCH. 297 



lawfully reject any part of Christ's 
teaching provided only that you do not 
reject the whole. But what is meant by 
faith in Christ? Is it faith in Christ 
as God? If it is, then Unitarians, who 
deny the Divinity of Christ, must be 
put beyond the pale of Christian re- 
ligions. If they are not put out, then 
faith in Christ as God is not essential. If 
they mean that faith in Christ in man 
is enough the Mohammedan must be 
given a welcome. But in this case the 
liberal in religion must allow that if 
one religion is as good as another it is 
as good to be a non-Christian as a 
Christian. And if that view be cor- 
rect we may ask why Anglicans, Meth- 
odists, etc., subscribe so liberally to- 
wards Christian missions to the Mo- 
hammedans ? 

Bigoted Catholics. 

The charge is made that there are 
Catholics who may be described as 
bigoted, intolerant persons. If such 
exist they are not true Catholics. One 
who really understands and puts into 
practice the soul of the Faith, cannot 
possibly be bigoted, must refuse to sin 
against the virtue of charity, a virtue 
including tolerance and therefore ex- 
cluding all intolerance. In the words 
used by the Pittsburgh Observer, in 
an article on the subject, "No Catholic 
who really possesses the Catholic spirit 
is intolerant or bigoted. Bigotry is a 
crime which the Church severely con- 
demns. The individual Catholic may 
occasionally commit this sin, but it is 
utterly foreign to the Catholic charac- 
ter and utterly opposed to Catholic 
teaching. Unreasonable attachment to 



a doctrine or a system of doctrines, 
either true or false, coupled with 
hatred for those who hold other doc- 
trines, is bigotry. The Catholic Church 
holds that every man is obliged by the 
moral law to accept the truth. Before 
God and conscience no man has a right 
to belong to any religion except the 
true one. Truth cannot be a matter of 
indifference. For his choice of truth 
or falsehood every man must answer to 
his Maker." 

Intolerance. 

Intolerance is an ugly word, and 
sounds harsh to the ears. But there is 
a good as well as a bad intolerance. 

Who is so intolerant as a capable 
teacher in a class-room? She will not 
tolerate mistakes. No child is allowed 
to say that two and two make five. A 
good mother is intolerant likewise. She 
punishes for the use of bad language, 
she expels bad companions, she re- 
fuses to permit unbecoming games. So, 
too, is the Church intolerant. She has 
been constituted the guardian and cus- 
todian of revealed truth. Everything 
which contradicts truth, every religious 
system which bears not the character of 
truth, every error touching on the mat- 
ters of divine faith she promptly and 
sedulously condemns. The earnest 
Catholic who believes, as every intel- 
ligent Catholic does, that his is the one 
and only true religion, must also be 
exclusive and firmly, but kindly, refuse 
to participate in what he believes to 
be error. 

Rash Judgment. 

Catholicity is pre-eminently a re- 
ligion of love, which means charity, 



298 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



which again means tolerance. There- 
fore a Catholic is obliged to practice 
charity in every conceivable form con- 
sistent with good judgment and self- 
preservation. Now it is certainly con- 
trary to the dictates of charity, the 
readiness with which some folk consign 
to everlasting punishment all those 
whom they consider sinners. So the 
Church, to inculcate charity among 
her children, absolutely forbids and 
declares sinful such a readiness to 
judge our fellow men. There is always 
the hope of acceptance of God's grace 
by the worst of sinners. "We have no 
idea of the inner workings of grace. 
We may not even recognize quite evi- 
dent signs of repentance. Criticism 
of another is always forbidden. We are 
commanded to hate and abhor sin, but 
we are just as strictly forbidden to 
hate or condemn a sinner. 

Catholics in Prison. 

The old charge that Catholics fill 
our prisons, used so often in anti-Cath- 
olic literature is refuted by facts in an 
article appearing in the Extension 
Magazine for August, 1916. The Rev- 
erend Peter A. Crumbly, 0. F. M., 
author of the article, in an interview 
sums up his experience as chaplain of 
the Illinois State Penitentiary, an ex- 
pression of first hand experience dur- 
ing many years : 

"We are often told that the popula- 
tion of our prisons and reformatories 
is made up largely of Catholics. This 
is false, for statistics show that in the 
Joliet penitentiary, as well as in all 
the larger penitentiaries of our coun- 
try, the Catholics form a minority of 



the inmates. Thus, for instance, here 
in Joliet, while 530 out of 1,745 in- 
mates are registered as Catholics, only 
230 can now be called 'practical' Cath- 
olics, since that is the number of Easter 
Communions received here this year. 
We find a large number who call them- 
selves Catholics, but whose Catholicitj r 
consists in descent from parents or 
perhaps grandparents who had been 
baptized but afterwards neglected their 
religion. They are Catholic by birth 
and nothing else ; they were not edu- 
cated in Catholic schools. Only a very 
small percentage of the 'Catholic' in- 
mates here were trained in parochial 
schools, not more than three or four 
having completed the eighth grade in 
such schools. Not one man in the peni- 
tentiary at Joliet at present was a reg- 
ular monthly communicant before his 
arrest and commitment to the peniten- 
tiary, though some of them belonged to 
that class of Catholics who are satisfied 
if they make their Easter day. 

"These same conditions are true of 
other large penitentiaries throughout 
the country, as is shown by statistics 
published in their official reports. 

"These statistics, especially if the 
religious denomination to which pris- 
oners belong is stated, will lead the su- 
perficial observer, but never the scien- 
tific student, to some rash conclusions. 
Thus, for example, in a prison report 
the number of Catholic prisoners may- 
be given as, say 100, Methodist 35, Bap- 
tist 25, etc. Using the numbers of such 
a report only, there would seem to be 
a preponderance of Catholic prisoners, 
but if these numbers are computed into 
percentages the comparison will show 



CHARGES MADE AGAINST CHURCH. 299 



that the percentage of Catholic pris- 
oners is no greater than the percentage 
of prisoners belonging to the various 
sects or claiming no religious affilia- 
tions whatever. 

Communion in One Kind. 

"Why do not the people receive the 
wine at Communion as well as the 
bread," is a question non-Catholics fre- 
quently ask. The answer is, of course, 
that neither priests nor people receive 
either bread or wine at Communion. 
Both receive the body and blood, soul 
and Divinity of our Lord and Savior, 
Jesus Christ, under the appearance of 
bread. 

The reasons for the people not re- 
ceiving Communion under the form of 
wine are many and good. And the 
Church, in thus making this law, does 
not deprive the people of any essential 
benefit which Jesus Christ intended for 
them, when He instituted the Sacra- 
ment. The principal reason is that 
Jesus is present, whole and entire, un- 
der the appearance of bread, just as 
He is under the appearance of wine. 
There is not, nor can there ever be, 
any physical separation of the blood 
from the ever-living body of Christ. 
Consequently, Christ, whole and entire, 
must be present under either species. 
There is no distinction between priests 
and people. When receiving the Sac- 
rament, both do so under the appear- 
ance of bread alone. But when offer- 
ing up the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, 
the priests must consecrate both ele- 
ments. As a sacrifice, showing the 
death of Christ, the Eucharist must 
employ the separate forms of bread 



and wine, which the priest who offers 
up the Holy Sacrifice must receive at 
the Communion, which is an integral 
part of the Mass. Receiving Com- 
munion at any other time the priest 
receives, as do the people, in one form 
only. 

Early Christians, some of them, re- 
ceived Communion in both kind. There 
is no effort to conceal this fact. But 
there is evidence that, even in those 
days, Christians also received under 
one species, believing that they were 
receiving all that was essential. There 
were grave dangers attached to Com- 
munion under the species of wine. The 
crowds who receive Communion today, 
in large city churches, with Masses rap- 
idly succeeding each other from dawn 
to mid-day, make it impossible. Time 
is precious. And the chalice, filled and 
refilled, from some common receptacle 
with grave and constant danger to its 
precious contents, or at least to some 
small portion, the danger of accident or 
irreverence, oddity of manners on the 
part of some who receive, — all these 
are in themselves good and sufficient 
reasons for withdrawing something 
which is not actually essential. Then 
the portion unconsumed must be pre- 
served carefully, there are many com- 
municants who could not bear the 
taste, others who would not be able to 
retain it, and some who feel a repul- 
sion to drinking from the same cup as 
others. These and other reasons which 
thought will recall to reasonable per- 
sons, justify the action of the Church. 
Such difficulties were found by non- 
Catholic congregations, who endeav- 
ored to administer under both kind. 



300 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Liebnitz, a non- Catholic historian 
and theologian, said, "I have no doubt 
that those in authority have power to 
make laws in such matters as these, 
and that the faithful are bound to obey 
them rather than to give rise to a 
schism. ' ' And as the Church has made 
laws on other subjects such as this 
changing the Sabbath to Sunday, for 
instance, all Catholics agree. 

Is There Salvation Outside the 
Church. 

The Eight Reverend Mgr. Canon 
John Vaughan, in a work on this sub- 
ject has summarized the teaching of 
the Church on this question to say that 
it is a real misfortune to be living out- 
side the pale of the Church — whether 
it be one's personal fault or not. 

A man who deliberately remains out- 
side the pale of the Church through his 
own fault (such as pride, or wilful ig- 
norance, or through fear of loss of 
goods or of friends, or gross neglect, 
or indifference) will most certainly be 
lost, should he continue in this state 
to the end. 

He who is out of visible unity with 
the Catholic Church through invinci- 
ble ignorance and from no fault of his 
own will be excused from the formal 
guilt of heresy ; so that, though he may 
be condemned for other offenses, the 
sin of heresy, at all events, will not be 
laid to his charge. 

Though we assert, without any 
doubt, that Protestants may be sav^d 
and though we are quite ready to allow 
even that a great many actually are 
saved, owing to their excusable inabil- 
ity to recognize the truth, yet there is 



one thing of which we are still more 
certain and that is, it will not be by 
means of his Protestantism. Protes- 
tantism, as such, has no saving power. 

Mgr. Vaughan explains his state- 
ments by saying that, as the present 
Protestant denominations left the 
Catholic Church they took with them a 
considerable number of important 
Catholic doctrines, which are pre- 
cisely what will save them. By virtue 
of these, he says, "the good, honest, 
sincere, God-fearing non-Catholics of 
whom there are no doubt many, will 
obtain eternal life." 

St. Peter in Rome. 

Some self-styled higher critics have 
boldly questioned the fact that St. 
Peter was ever in Rome. For the most 
part they base their allegations upon 
certain quotations from Scripture 
which go to prove St. Peter's contin- 
ued presence in other parts of the 
world during the period of his epis- 
copacy in Rome. Because he is thus 
proven to have been elsewhere at cer- 
tain times they jump to the conclusion 
that he was never in Rome. Yet all 
Christendom has uniformly, through 
all ages, believed that St. Peter was 
the first Bishop of Rome, and there 
suffered martyrdom. It was left for 
modern writers to doubt something ac- 
cepted by all, even enemies of the 
Church, for the first fourteen centuries 
of her existence. 

St. Peter began his Apostolic labors 
ten days after the Ascension of our 
Lord into Heaven, that is, on the day 
of Pentecost, May 15, of the year 34, 
from the birth of Christ. In fact he 



CHARGES MADE AGAINST CHURCH. 



had preached on the very day of Pen- 
tecost (Acts ii, 41), and a few days 
later. (Acts v, 19). He remained in 
Jerusalem for four years, preaching 
the Gospel in many parts of Samaria 
during this time. (Acts xiii, 25). 
Here he was visited by St. Paul. (Acts 
27, 28). In the same year, the fourth, 
he visited Lidda (Acts ix, 32), go- 
ing thence to Joppe, (Acts x, 11, 12). 
In the last two places miracles are re- 
corded of his work. Going to Caesarea, 
he there instructed the centurion Cor- 
nelius and his household, all of whom 
he baptized. (Acts x, 23). Returning 
to Jerusalem, (Acts xi, 18) for a short 
time, he then went to Ahtioch (Ana- 
cletus, Epistola III), where he re- 
mained seven years, making excursions 
into the nearby provinces, as St. Leo 
testifies. 

In the eleventh year after the Ascen- 
sion, St. Peter selected Rome as his 
bishopric, leaving Antioch to Evodiur?. 
Going first to Jerusalem, he was im- 
prisoned by Herod (Acts xii), but 
was miraculously delivered by an 
angel. A second time he made his way 
to Rome in the same year, where he 
was the first to preach the Gospel of 
Christ. Under his teaching, the num- 
ber of Christians increased steadily, 
and he was able to send disciples into 
many neighboring places. In the 
seventh year of his residence in Rome 
the emperor Claudius banished all 
Jews, and as the Christians were then 
considered a Jewish sect, they> too, had 
to go. St. Peter, according to some, 
went at this time first to Britain. Ac- 
cording to others he went to Carthage, 
where he placed Crescent as bishop, 



and later to Alexandria where he 
placed St. Mark in charge, raising that 
see to a Patriarchate. Then he re- 
turned to Jerusalem. Here he presided 
at a Council, declaring that certain 
Jewish ordinations were not binding on 
Christians, a decision confirmed by all 
present, including St. James, bishop 
of Jerusalem ; St. Paul and St. Barna- 
bas. (Acts xv, 8). This was about the 
eighteenth year from the death of 
Christ. 

Three years later, under Nero, who 
at first was peaceable in disposition, 
many Christians returned to Rome, St. 
Peter among the first. Two years later 
St. Paul came, a prisoner, remaining so 
for two years before being set free to 
go to Spain. In the tenth year of 
Nero's reign, Rome was set on fire. 
Nero to free himself, placed the blame 
on the Christians, and under this pre- 
text many of them suffered martyrdom. 
Then came the persecutions which kept 
up for the rest of Nero's life. In the 
twelfth of Nero's reign, (the twenty- 
fourth of St. Peter's Roman Pontifi- 
cate), St. Peter, who had absented him- 
self from Rome for a short time, came 
back, and St. Paul with him. During 
this year St. Peter foretells his ap- 
proaching death, in his epistle. (Chap- 
ter i, 14). At this time the two saints 
confounded Simon Magus, the ma- 
gician, but his defeat aroused the anger 
of Nero who caused their arrest and 
imprisonment in the Mamertine prison. 
Here for nine months they lay in 
strict confinement, and St. Paul 
wrote his epistle to Timothy. St. Peter 
caused water to spring from the rock- 
floor to be used in the Baptism of the 



302 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



keepers, a spring which still exists in 
the church of St. Joseph built on the 
spot at the foot of the Capitol. In the 
year 34 after the Ascension, the 25th 
of St. Peter's possession of the see of 
Rome, Saints Peter and Paul were 
sentenced, St. Peter to be crucified, St. 
Paul to be beheaded, because they were 
disciples of Christ. St. Peter was cruci- 
fied on Mount Janiculum, not far from 
Vatican Hill, with his head downward, 
at his own request, because, in his hu- 
mility, he thought he was unworthy to 
die as did his Divine Lord. St. Paul 
was beheaded on the road to Ostia, four 
miles out from the city. When his 
head fell from the sword, it made three 
bounds, and a fountain sprang forth at 
each place where the head touched. 
They are still to be seen, "Les Trois 
Fontaines," about two miles beyond 
the Basilica of St. Peters. 

We may add that non-Catholic writ- 
ers of note admit freely that there is 
not a shred of evidence to prove that 
St. Peter was not at Rome. Cave, for 
instance, in his Literary History of 
Ecclesiastical Writers, says, "that St. 
Peter was thj first bishop of Rome, we 
affirm boldly with the whole multitude 
of ancients." Ernestus Bunsen, an- 
other non-Catholic authority, bases his 
admission on a passage of the history of 
Eusebius, which refers to St. Peter 
having been in Rome in the year 42. 
Dr. Dollinger, Calvin and others add 
their statements to the list. St. Leo, 
Theodoret, Eusebius, St. Augustine, St. 
Jerome, St. Cyprian, Origen and Ter- 
tullian with many others prove various 
facts concerning his life at Rome, bring- 
ing a multitude of testimony which will 



always withstand the latter-day doubts 
brought by enemies of the Church. 
Catholic Teachers. 
Catholics are enemies of public 
schools, the anti-Catholic press freely 
asserts. Therefore, they hold Catholic 
teachers have no place in those schools. 
An enquirer on this subject was thus 
answered in Extension Magazine re- 
cently. 

Question : As the Church wishes all 
Catholic children to attend Catholic 
schools, what is her attitude toward 
Catholics teaching in the public 
schools ? 

Answer: The Catholics in this coun- 
try support the public schools by pay- 
ing their taxes, just as all other citi- 
zens do. The Church wishes her own 
children to be educated under religious 
influences, as she knows that educa- 
tion without religion does not supply 
the right moral basis for Christian vir- 
tue and character. But this is no rea- 
son why Catholic taxpayers should not 
be allowed to furnish well-qualified 
teachers to teach the secular branches 
which alone are required in the public 
schools. Secular education is not an 
evil in itself. We give our children the 
same in our Catholic schools. But we 
add religion to it to build up an effi- 
cient Christian and moral citizenship. 
To give a secular education, no religi- 
ous test is required. Our Catholic 
young men and women teaching in the 
public schools are just as competent as 
any other class of teachers, and as con- 
scientious in their work, if not more 
so, than others. Since these teachers 
are public servants, and are supported 
by taxes of Catholics, it is no more than 



CHARGES MADE AGAINST CHURCH. 303 



just that there should be a fair pro- 
portion of our Catholics engaged in 
this public service. 

Relics of Saints. 

A charge made freely in the anti- 
Catholic press is that some of the relics 
in the Church are of doubtful origin? 
There are, undoubtedly, through 
ignorance and fraud, some spurious 
relics," (Letter of January, 1881, by 
Cardinal- Vicar of Rome to all Bishops 
warning against spurious relics), and, 
indeed, we do not claim absolute cer- 
tainty in this matter. No Catholic, in- 
deed, is bound to believe any relic 
genuine unless he has satisfactory 
evidence to the fact. 

The Council of Trent ordered 
bishops to take special pains in this 
regard, and the Congregation of Indul- 
gences and Relics at Rome has done its 
best to prevent false relics being offered 
to the veneration of the faithful, re- 
quiring always a special document of 
authentication. Suppose, however, the 
relic to be false, the saint would still 
be honored by us ; for we pray not to a 
bit of bone, but to the saint to whom it 
is supposed to belong. 

Religious Dry Rot. 

Frequently it has been stated that 
the Church is losing its hold upon the 
people. This is a favorite theme of 
newspaper and magazine writers. The 
Church is dying of dry rot, they say, 
or again, the Church must adapt itself 
to present conditions. It is losing 
ground, they claim, and people do not 
attend as of old. 

Strangely enough, such critics seldom, 
if ever, examine conditions in the oldest 



form of Catholicity. There are in Ca- 
tholicity no signs of dry rot. It is not 
losing ground. Let us strike four pe- 
riods of history for the proof. At the 
beginning of the Revolutionary War 
the Catholic population was about 
26,000. In 1890 it leaped up to more 
than 6,000,000. In 1906 it had increased 
to more than 12,000,000. Today it is 
fully 20,000,000, exclusive of our pos- 
sessions. Figure a new place of wor- 
ship being completed on an average of 
every twenty-two hours and you have 
a sufficiently complete answer. 

Catholics Who Fall Away From the 
Faith. Pioneer Catholics. 

So while there can be no such thing 
as the condition described above as " re- 
ligious dry-rot" in the Catholic 
Church, yet there are and will con- 
tinue to be instances of the fall-away 
Catholic. Under the caption, "Is 
Peter's Bark Leaking," some time ago, 
America, a Catholic Weekly of New 
York City, conducted a review of con- 
ditions in certain eastern cities, and 
the attention given the subject by 
church associations. All large cities 
sooner or later meet the same condi- 
tions, namely the development of the 
city's growth into some locality, where 
the Church has not yet branched out. 
The lack of priests may delay this 
branching, and the establishing of a 
church there. Some few families may 
thus be deprived of opportunities for 
attendance at church and in time may 
become careless and fall away from the 
faith. This is true of the conditions 
described. 

It was more strikingly true in the 



304 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



early days of Catholicity in this coun- 
try, when settlers in isolated sections 
of the country found themselves many 
miles away from a church. The infre- 
quent visits of a missionary priest 
sometimes failed to find them. The 
result is the condition we find today 
in the rural districts, and wherever 
their descendants have settled, of good 
old Catholic names, Catholic in origin, 
in meaning sometimes, representing 
members of non-Catholic churches. The 
original Catholic pioneer had simply 
gone into the wilderness, far in ad- 
vance of the growth and development 
of the Church. For years his family 
had been denied the spiritual atten- 
tions of God's ministers, and even 
when civilization meant neighbors and 
villages near him, there was not a suf- 
ficient number of Catholics to warrant 
the establishment of a church or a res- 
ident pastor. With the best will in the 
world sometimes, the seed dwindled and 
died for lack of nourishment for which 
none can be blamed. 

Immigrants. 

The condition which "America" 
considered was rather the attempts of 
the present day to meet the spiritual 
necessities of the immigrant popula- 
tion. These people are Catholic by 
birth, tradition and training, but they 
speak another language, and they need 
attention in their native tongue. Com- 
ing to our shores in such large numbers 
and in such short time, the Church 
found great difficulty in finding priests 
to speak their language, and to serve 
them as they were accustomed in their 
native land. Shy and strange, in unfa- 



miliar surroundings, their children to 
some extent acquired their diffident at- 
titude toward America and its insti- 
tutions. This included the Church, 
because of the strange people with 
whom they were expected to associate 
and with whom they could not easily 
feel at home. It took time to adapt con- 
ditions to their convenience, but it has 
come, and the attention given them, 
where necessary, by native priests, or 
priests of American birth familiar 
with their language and customs, in 
their own churches, is fast overcoming 
the difficulties presented. This, of 
course, is not true of all nationalties. 

Proselyting. 

Many difficulties in addition to the 
above entered into the handling of the 
problem. The changing population of 
the cities, the tendency of one nation- 
ality to congregate in one section, and 
then gradually to move into another 
part of the city, all of these and other 
difficulties would have been sufficient. 
The particularly questionable practice 
of non-Catholic social and religious 
workers mingling amongst Catholic 
people for the purpose of drawing 
them into their own religious organiza- 
tions was a decided stumbling block. It 
is not claimed that church organiza- 
tions were responsible for this state of 
things. The over-zealous activity of 
certain workers may account for it. 
But the fact remains that Catholic 
churches in many large cities had this 
lenient to contend with. More than 
that it was common practice to entice 
the children of Catholic parents, who 
could not speak our language and were, 



V 





THE KNIGHTS OF COLUMBUS. 



Above, Monument in honor of Columbus, erected by the order in Washingto 
Below, Supreme Directors before Order's headquarters in New Haven. 



n. 



CHARGES MADE AGAINST CHURCH. 305 



therefore, in ignorance of what was be- 
ing offered, to a particular church for 
religious service by means of gifts and 
presents. Catholic practices were 
sneered at. The children were advised 
to avoid the church of their parents. 
In some cases Catholic practices were 
imitated in small edifices built for the 
purpose. The children were led to be- 
lieve that it was the church of their 
fathers, and encouraged to attend. The 
efforts of proselyters were widespread, 
especially in the case of one national- 
ity, whose emigration preceded the 
coming of the priests to care for them. 
All of this, however, is being lessened 
by the organization of the church in 
caring for her own. 

Real Fall-Aways. 

Then there are the real fall-aways. 
The man or woman who deliberately 
cuts himself off from the Church is a 
rarity. Carelessness in religious prac- 
tices will in time bring about a general 
carelessness and indifference, which 
will lead to this condition, unless re- 
vived by the action of God's grace in 
some extraordinary development. 
Mixed marriages, the constant associa- 
tion with one who is perhaps antago- 
nistic or, at least, an unbeliever, may 
in time bring about the same result. 
It needs a careful attention to religion 
and its practice to obviate this state 
of affairs. It is not easy to combat 
successfully the temptations of the 
world unless we are careful and reg- 
ular in the reception of the sacraments. 
Any additional temptation means addi- 
tional graces. And people subject to 
these conditions, so hurtful to real 



Catholic life, are not usually so careful 
in applying for, or accepting these ad- 
ditional graces. Everything points to 
a life which rather tends the other 
way, to indifference, and then complete 
loss of faith. Needless to say, the chil- 
dren suffer in the lack of proper in- 
struction, and it is unusual to expect 
them to develop into good church mem- 
bers. Of all the forces working toward 
decrease in our membership, perhaps 
mixed marriages hurt more than all 
the others. The Church realizes this, 
and assents to such a condition unwill- 
ingly. Only rare cases turn out well, 
and it is because of these that the re- 
luctant consent is ever given. The 
actual loss to the Church in member- 
ship cannot be estimated because it 
grows continually. It is centered 
largely around the loss of the children, 
because the Catholic parent sometimes 
keeps up a sort of pretense to nominal 
Catholicity, long after he has joined 
the class of fall-aways. 

So there is no religious dry-rot in 
the Catholic Church. Those who cease 
to continue as faithful members rarely 
become members of any other church. 
Few they are, of course, but they in- 
cline to complete indifference. No 
other form satisfies. And to offset the 
loss in membership, accounted for in the 
conditions outlined above, there is al- 
ways the steady growth, the ever- 
spreading development of a church 
that will continue even to the end of 
time. 

Go out early on a Sunday morning; 
stand conveniently close to the entrance 
to one of these city churches until near 
noon and watch those who come to 



306 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



worship. In the throng you will find 
the aristocrat and the wage-earner, 
and when you go inside you will find 
them worshiping without distinction, 
and without distinction you will hear 
the same sermon for each. To the man 
who has fallen out with the various 
forms of Protestant Christianity, fuil 
of failings because of their human 
origin, these facts should be of some 
moment in an honest search for re- 
ligious truth and the Church of 
Christ's institution. 

The Bad Catholic. 

According to the Savior Himself 
there will be always good and bad. 
There will be weeds in His field, which 
must be suffered to grow with the good 
grain until the harvest. 

It would be well for the life of the 
Church if she could get rid of the bad 
Catholic, but this can never be. And 
there are many grades and varieties. 
There are some, for instance, who 
would hide the name of Catholic if 
they could : who only cling to Peter 's 
barque from mere terror of the fires of 
hell. They are like the "shoneens" of 
Ireland whom Daniel O'Connell said 
he was ashamed of having emancipated. 
They come under the condemnation ex- 
pressed by Christ : " He that denies Me 
before men, I will deny him before My 
Father who is in heaven." 

There is another class of bad Catho- 
lics, who are willing to fight, to quarrel, 
to make themselves offensive to their 
neighbors, to be bigoted, to talk a lot 
about their religion, but who cannot be 
induced to reform their sinful lives for 
the honor of that religion. There is a 



third class, who, though proclaiming 
themselves Catholics, do not observe the 
primary obligations of Catholic life. 
They will not go to Mass. They never 
partake of the Sacraments, and yet 
they are so noisy and arrogant that 
they are an actual stumbling-block to 
conversions. It is simply an outrage 
for them to call themselves Catholics, 
and the Church would be much better 
off and much more efficient if she were 
disencumbered of them altogether. 
The bad Catholic is a person to be 
pitied, as his judgment will be more 
severe than that of those who never 
had his teachings and opportunities. 

The Dark Ages. 

"In these days of frantic, almost 
fanatic, search for reform in letters as 
well as in world politics," writes John 
M. S. Allison in the North American 
Review for April, "one is so concerned 
with present-day problems as to be in- 
clined to neglect the past and to omit 
it from all consideration.' ' ' ' Possibly, ' ' 
Mr. Allison adds, "we go even farther, 
and wilfully neglect it." 

Prefacing an article on "Medieval- 
ist and Modernist" with this state- 
ment, which involves a serious charge, 
Dr. Allison, assistant professor of his- 
tory at Yale University, not only con- 
demns those who seek to break with 
the past, but also offers an interesting 
apologia (if such were needed) for the 
much maligned Middle Ages. And in 
doing this, Mr. Allison does not mince 
words. He charges that the folly of 
ignoring or neglecting the past and 
looking only to the future has led to 
just as grievous aberrations in the field 



CHARGES MADE AGAINST CHURCH. 307 



of science and letters as it has in that 
of art with its Futurism and Cubism 
and Dadaism. Ultra-Modernism, he 
says, has even taken us much farther 
and has led us "to commit many er- 
rors of judgment and frequent acts of 
intellectual dishonesty. ' ' 

Of these acts of dishonesty "the 
most blasphemous," he writes, "has 
been the habit of calling the Middle 
Ages the Dark Ages." Yet "without 
the Middle Ages you and I would not 
be here, our universities would be 
things unknown, our Gothic structures 
would be unconstructed and our fund- 
amental principles of liberty would be 
without foundation. After all, it was 
the Middle Ages that gave us these, 
and it is the very antithesis of the 
Middle Ages that would destroy 
them." 

Middle Ages Our Superior. 

It is true, the Yale historian tells us, 
"the Middle Ages meant groping in 
darkness, but it was not the groping 
of a man alone, for the medievalist 
possessed faith and enjoyed the disci- 
pline of a reasonable authority that 
guided but did not limit too much his 
wanderings. The Middle Age man was 
our intellectual as well as our physical 
progenitor. But with the callousness 
of youth we deny his worth. In our 
pride at having invented steam en- 
gines, sawmills, movies and phono- 
graphs, we have forgotten that the me- 
dievalist has accomplished a more 
fundamental work for us. He it was 
who defined the basic principle of con- 
struction, who transmitted principles 
of learning, of poetry, and of free 



government. And he it was who even 
gave us God, at least the God whom 
three-quarters of the Christian world 
know as God today. The medievalist 
did not invent these things, as some 
would like to say, but he received them 
from an earlier generation that was 
fast disappearing. Unlike us, he ac- 
knowledged the sources of his own his- 
tory and of his civilization. He ac- 
knowledged his debt to the past. These 
gifts of a fading world, he assimilated 
with long and tedious labor, and he 
gave us the fruits of his efforts. All 
of them we enjoy today, but many of 
them we seek to destroy. And as to 
their origins we callously ignore them.'' 

Foundation of Our Liberties. 

Mr. Allison's contentions are valu- 
able for two reasons, for the fact that 
he is endeavoring to have justice done 
the Middle Ages, and for the lessons 
he seeks to impress, that it is folly to 
ignore the past, on whose shoulders 
we stand. It is highly interesting, 
moreover, to note that he repeats the 
truth that without the Middle Ages 
"our fundamental principles of lib- 
erty would be without foundation." 
This admission may be painful to 
many outside the Church, but it is 
none the less correct. 

Mr. Allison's statements are indic- 
ative of the growth of a better under- 
standing of the Middle Ages. As a 
further illustration of this growing 
appreciation of that period reference 
may be made to the fact that in so 
significant a book as "The Crisis of the 
Churches," just from the press. 
Leighton Parks has a passage reading : 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



308 

"There is less freedom of thought 
in some of the modern churches than 
there was in the medieval church when 
the great universities were thronged 



with students. Into the great melting 
pot of the universities went the seek- 
ers after God, and out of it came the 
great teachers of the churches." 



Bibliography. 

Externals of the Catholic Church, Sullivan; His Only Son, 
Robison; Catholic Christianity, Yassall-Phillips: The Catholic's 
Ready Answer, Hill; Catechism of the Council of Trent, Donovan; 
The Future Life, Sasia; Sermon by Bishop Schrembs, Cleveland, 
1914; Catechism Explained, Spirago-CIarke; Science and Faith, 
Aveling; Galileo, Gerard; Alleged Failures of Infallibility, Coup^; 
Spanish Inquisition, Smith; St. Bartholomew's Day, Longman; 
Short Answers, Lambert; Evolution and Darwinism, Mackerman; 
Liberalism, Pallen; Idolatry, Hull; Catholic Religion, Martin; 
Polemic Chat, Dunne; Religion and Science, Ronayne; Testimony 
to the Truth, Smyth; What Catholics Have Done for Science, 
Brennan; other works directly quoted. 



CHAPTER XIV— Part 2. 

Church Teaching Misunderstood. 

The Angels and The Fall— The Four Last Things (Eschatology)— Death- 
Particular Judgment — Signs of the Last Day — Antichrist — Resurrection of the 
Body — General Judgment — Place of Judgment — Heaven — Hell — Location of Hell — 
Length of Punishment — Communion of Saints — Limbo — Canonization of Saints — 
Various Steps of Procedure — Reverence and Invocation of Saints — Purgatory — Does 
God Permit Great Calamities? — Superstitions — Smuggling — Gambling — Temperance 
— Mortal Sin of Drink — C. T. A. U. — Bootlegging — Suicide — Autopsies — Vivisection 
— Prophecies of St. Malachy — Dancing — Great Calamities — Catholics and Thanks- 
giving — Co-education. 



The Angels and the Fall. 

The Angels are pure spirits without a 
body created to adore and to serve God 
in Heaven. They are immortal and su- 
perior to man. When they were crea- 
ted Scripture does not tell us, and the 
opinion of the Fathers is that the heav- 
ens were first created and the angels in 
the heavens. St. Thomas held to this 
belief. The Fourth Lateran Council 
declared that God created angels and 
material beings ' ' at the same time from 
the beginning." But the Council had 
no intention of definitely deciding the 
question. At least St. Thomas and 
others point this out. 

In Scripture we find nine different 
orders of these heavenly spirits men- 
tioned at different times. The Sera- 
phim, the Cherubim, Thrones, Princi- 
palities, Powers, Dominations, Virtues, 
Archangels and Angels. The Seraphim 
and Cherubim are represented as con- 
tinually praising God in Heaven. Their 



prayer, "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God 
of Sabaoth : the Heavens and the earth 
are full of Thy Glory, ' ' is recited by the 
priest at the Sanctus in the Mass. The 
Archangels and Angels appear as hav- 
ing charge of the affairs of men, acting 
on occasions as God's messengers. St. 
Michael, St. Gabriel and St. Raphael 
are especially mentioned. 

The Angels are superior to man in 
the exercise of an intelligence which 
is in perpetual operation. Its especial 
keenness enables them to see by intui- 
tion, conclusions which come to us only 
imperfectly and after much reasoning. 
They can move from place to place 
with a swiftness impossible to man. 
Their knowledge depends upon images 
received from God along the nature He 
has given them. They are endowed 
with free-will and are able to com- 
municate with each other. This much 
concerning the Angels is either con- 
tained in Scripture or deduced from it 
by the Fathers of the Church, as may 



310 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



be seen by consulting St. Thomas. 
Isaias and Ezechiel in the Old Testa- 
ment, St. Paul in the New Testament 
and St. Gregory the Great may be con- 
sulted on the subject. 

St. Paul calls the angels "minister- 
ing spirits," in his epistle to the He- 
brews. They serve God continually in 
Heaven, besides defending countries, 
cities, churches and individuals under 
their charge, and offering to God the 
prayers of the faithful. The Angel 
Guardians exercise an especial watch- 
fulness over their charges, suggesting 
good thoughts and deeds, helping in 
prayer and devotion, and, lastly, pre- 
senting the souls, if saved, to God. 

The Church shows only veneration, 
or inferior honor which is their due, to 
the angels. We are encouraged to ask 
their prayers and kind offices. But 
supreme adoration is given to God 
alone. Our greatest act of devotion, 
the Mass, is offered to God alone. 

The Fallen Angels. 

While the Old Testament contains 
much that is interesting on the subject 
of evil spirits, yet it is to the New Tes- 
tament that we must turn for more 
complete information concerning them. 
The personal existence of evil spirits 
is clearly taught in both. In Samuel 
and Job, mention is made of the devil. 
In the Book of Wisdom we find that it 
was he that took the form of the ser- 
pent, and deceived our first parents, 
so he is rightly called the devil. His 
power for evil is held to be subject, 
that God holds dominion over him. 
This dependence on God is clearly im- 
plied in Zacharias and in other places. 



The name Lucifer, commonly given 
to the devil, is derived from a passage 
in Ezechiel xxviii. St. Paul tells 
us that the devil is a spirit (Ephes. 
ii, 2). That he is a prince with evil 
angels subject to him we find in Matt, 
xii, 24-26. That the demons were 
not originally evil but fell through sin 
is found in St. Peter (ii, 11, 4), and 
in St. Jude (vi). All spiritual evil and 
error is traced to the devil (II Cor. xi, 
14, 15), and all which hinders the Gos- 
pel (I Thess. ii, 18). Christ's death 
has done much to destroy the works 
of the devil, yet his power still remains 
in part, so much so that he is called the 
ruler of the world (St. John xii, 31, 2; 
Cor. iv, 4). At last his power will be 
completely destroyed. 

The rest concerning the evil spirits is 
either taken from tradition or by in- 
duction. It is unversally held that they 
were originally pure spirits. The devil 
was the chief of the fallen spirits, and 
the greater number of authors hold 
that he was originally in high place 
among the angels in Heaven. It is be- 
lieved that although condemned to the 
everlasting pains of Hell immediately 
after the fall, still, from time to time 
the devil and his angels wander in the 
air and over the earth. It is a common 
opinion that wherever they go, their 
punishment continues. The time of the 
fall is not determined. Neither is it ac- 
cepted that the reasons leading up to 
the fall were arranged in the nature of 
a test or a probation. Those who fell 
were driven out of Heaven, and those 
who remained were confirmed in their 
loyalty to God forever. It is a common 
opinion that the hosts of Heaven were 



CHURCH TEACHING MISUNDERSTOOD. 311 



led by St. Michael, the archangel who is 
invoked in prayer as "our protection 
against the wickedness and snares of 
the devil." And there is at least a 
plausible inference from the words of 
St. Paul to Timothy (iii, 6), that 
Satan, as he is called, fell, puffed up by 
pride. From the words of Christ, 
' ' Depart from Me, ye cursed, into ever- 
lasting fire, which was prepared for the 
devil and his angels, ' ' from the general 
teaching of the Fathers, and from the 
definition of the Fourth Lateran Coun- 
cil of the Church, it is certain that the 
devil and his angels are condemned 
without hope of pardon. 

The Four Last Things. 

The four last things generally are 
said to be Death, Judgment, Heaven, 
and Hell. These are accepted as the 
most important things that happen to 
men as they leave, and after they leave 
the world. This belief is called Esehat- 
ology. It is supposed to be a special 
department of theology. It includes 
also the consideration of Purgatory, the 
Resurrection, the eternal reign of 
Christ, the destruction and the renova- 
tion of the world. "De Novissimis, ' ' 
Jungman, Ratisbon, 1874, is an exten- 
sive treatise on this subject. 

Death. 

At death the soul is separated from 
the body, and it enters the world of 
spirits : the body decays and falls into 
dust. This is to be the experience of 
all. There is no exception, except in 
the case of the Blesed Virgin, whose 
body was taken up to Heaven. Christ 
alone was not subject to the law of 



death. The bodies of some of the saints 
have been miraculously preserved from 
corruption. 

"The soul is freed from its prison 
at death," says St. Augustine. The 
principle of life departs, the spirit 
returns to the God who gave it (Eccles. 
xii, 7). "Death," says St. John 
Chrysostom, "is a journey into eter- 
nity. ' ' They are wrong who think that 
the soul at death enters into a sort of 
sleep until the day of judgment. 
Wrong, too, are they who profess to be- 
lieve with the ancient Egyptians that 
the soul after death is joined to other 
forms, whether human or animal. 

Death is the consequence of original 
sin. Our first parents by their sin lost 
the gift of immortality, and, as a con- 
sequence all their descendants must die. 
Henoch and Elias (Gen. v, 24 and 4 
Kings ii, 11) alone were removed from 
the earth without dying and they are 
to return to earth before the Last Day 
and then die. 

The hour of our death is unknown, 
we shall die when we expect it not 
(Matt, xxiv, 44), a fact of which we 
have frequent evidence. We should, 
therefore, always be prepared and 
ready to die. 

Death is an ordeal to be feared only 
by the sensual, the worldling. "For 
the just man there is no death," says 
St. Vincent Ferrer. "How sweet it is 
to die, if one's life has been good, ' ' says 
St. Augustine. It is not the kind of 
death, but the state of the soul that 
counts. 

For purposes of preparation we 
pray that God will deliver us from "a 
sudden and unprovided death." The 



312 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Church, for this reason frequently re- 
calls to our minds the subject of death. 
It is a useful thought to keep us out of 
temptation. "In all thy works remem- 
ber thy last end and thou shalt never 
sin." (Eccles. vii, 40). 

The Particular Judgment. 

Christ judges all men immediately 
after death to reward or punish them 
according to their deeds. "As soon 
as the soul leaves the body," says St. 
Augustine, "it is judged." St. Paul 
says, "It is appointed to all men once 
to die and after this the judgment." 
(Heb. ix, 27). 

Christ will sit in judgment examin- 
ing our whole lives. ' ' For neither doth 
the Father judge any man, but hath 
given all judgment to the Son." (John 
v, 22). A man's work shall be revealed 
at his death. (Eccles. XI. 29). Blessed 
Clement Hofbauer says that at our 
death, when Christ comes, our whole 
life will be revealed to us with the rap- 
idity and clearness of lightning. Our 
most secret deeds will be brought to 
light. We must give an account even 
of every idle word that we have spoken. 
(Matt, xii, 36). In the particular 
judgment the soul receives its reward 
or punishment for the good or evil done 
in life. 

Signs of the Last Day. 

Scripture tells us of certain signs 
which will precede the Last Day. The 
Gospel will be preached all over the 
world. (Matthew xxiv, 14.) The 
great mass of the Jews will embrace the 
Christian Faith. (Rom. xi, 25). En- 
och and Elias, according to common 
belief, will appear to preach penance. 



These are understood to be the prophets 
spoken of in the Apocalypse. Genesis 
and the Book of Kings tell us these men 
were removed from the earth in an ex- 
traordinary way. The Holy City, Jeru- 
salem, with the exception of the Temple 
is to be trodden under foot by heathen. 
Two prophets with miraculous powers 
are to appear for about three years and 
a half, when they will be killed. After 
three days and a half they will live 
again to go up "to heaven in a cloud." 
Enoch and Elias are supposed to be 
the two prophets. The fate of Jeru- 
salem may be taken as an allegory of 
the Church of Christ. Another sign 
is to be an "apostasy," or a defection 
from the Church. Natural signs, earth- 
quakes, darkening of the sun, etc., are 
mentioned by St. Matthew (xxiv), 
and St. Luke (xxi). But, "concern- 
ing that day or hour no man knoweth. ' ' 
(St. Mark xiii, 32.) 

St. Augustine conjectured an order 
of events, which is not to be accepted 
as authorized, since there is no certain 
means of knowing the facts. He sup- 
posed Elias would come first, then the 
conversion of the Jews, then the perse- 
cution of Antichrist, wars, pestilence 
and famine, Christ's coming, the res- 
urrection and separation of the good 
from the wicked in judgment. Then 
to follow would be the conflagration of 
the world and finally its renovation. 
St. Thomas (Sententia IV. Dist. 
XLVII) supposes a different order, 
namely, that the action of fire will be- 
gin before the judgment. It will, he 
thinks, thus inflict God's vengeance 
upon the wicked, and serve also as pur- 
gatorial torment to the imperfect. 



CHURCH TEACHING MISUNDERSTOOD. 313 



Further it will cleanse and renew the 
world. St. Thomas gathers this from 
Romans (viii, 21). His opinions are 
most commonly received. 

Antichrist. 

St. John's epistles contain this 
word, antichrist. In itself it might 
mean "like Christ" or "instead of 
Christ." According to St. John it 
means the adversary of Christ. St. 
Paul does not use the word but he 
speaks of a person whom he describes 
as the "man of sin," "the son of perdi- 
tion" .... "sitting in the Temple of 
God, exhibiting as God." 

It is the belief of the Church that 
before our Lord comes again, a great 
power will arise to persecute the 
Church and lead many into apostasy, 
and the belief of many of the Fathers 
was that antichrist is to be a real being 
who is to appear before the end of the 
world to persecute the Church. (Apoe. 
xx, 3, 9; II Thess. ii 9). Bossuet says 
that in the details of this matter "the 
Fathers do but grope in the dark, a 
sure sign that tradition has left noth- 
ing decisive on the subject." 

There have been many expressions 
concerning antichrist. Some regard 
him as generated by Satan, others ag 
Satan incarnate. Different great evils 
which have afflicted the world were 
looked upon as about to usher in the 
reign of antichrist. Types and fore- 
runners have appeared. In a vague 
sense everyone who performed or who 
taught evil was called antichrist. The 
old opinion that antichrist was to be an 
individual was common until the ref- 
ormation period. At this time, an odd 



belief which had originated among the 
Beguines, in Flanders, was revived, to 
the effect that as Lucifer had come 
from the highest order of the Angels, 
so antichrist was to come from the 
highest ranks within the Church. Ref- 
ormation opinion said this meant the 
line of Popes. Heretics hinted that this 
was what St. Paul meant in his refer- 
ence to the "man of sin." But non- 
Catholic writers have long since re- 
jected this erroneous interpretation 
which at one time was almost an article 
of Protestant faith. 

Resurrection of the Body. 

Christ on the last day will raise the 
bodies of all men from the dead, and 
unite them with the souls forever. This 
is an article of the creed. He will call 
to life the bodies of those who are al- 
ready dead, while for those who survive 
until that day such a change will take 
place in their bodies, that in a moment 
they will die and awake again to a new 
life. (I Thess. iv, 16). Those will arise 
who are in the grace of God, as well as 
those in mortal sin. (John v, 28 ; Matt, 
xxv, 31). This resurrection will take 
place in a moment (I Cor. xv, 52). 
The hour cometh wherein all that are 
in the graves shall hear the voice of 
the Son of God. (John v, 28, 29). 

This resurrection of the body will be 
to prove His justice and to honor our 
Redeemer. God's justice demands that 
the body take part in the triumph, 
since, as Tertullian says, there are 
many good deeds which can be carried 
out in their perfection only in the 
body. Hence it is right that the body 
share the reward. This will be the 



314 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



same body as we now have, glorious if 
we are among the just, hideous, if 
among the wicked, without defect of 
any kind and immortal. "In my flesh 
I shall see my God," (Job, xix, 26). 
"Mark now our faces that you may 
know them again in the Day of Judg- 
ment," said St. Perpetua to the by- 
standers at her martyrdom. 

It is not at all beyond God's power 
to rejoin the scattered elements of our 
bodies. If He could create us out of 
nothing, He can reassemble that which 
already has had existence. The com- 
ponent elements of our bodies are re- 
newed many times in life, yet we have 
the same bodies. Thought of the res- 
urrection of the body makes Christians 
careful in the burial of the dead. ' ' We 
shall all rise again ; but we shall not all 
be changed." (Cor. xv, 51). The 
bodies of the just will resemble the 
glorified body of Christ. (Phil, iii, 21) . 
The beauty of the body will be in pro- 
portion to the beauty of the soul. (Rom. 
vii, 11). Bodies distorted in life 
will be beautiful, if life has been good, 
while the world's personal charms may 
easily become objects of horror and 
aversion. The risen bodies will have 
no defects. Martyrs will recover their 
limbs. Their wounds will be glorious. 
So also the bodies of the wicked will 
be complete, but for punishment. Ail 
bodies will be immortal. (I Cor. 
xv, 42). 

Belief in the resurrection is a great 
consolation. Christians do not mourn 
their dead as lost to them. They have 
this possibility of reunion. 



The General Judgment. 

Immediately after the resurrection 
the general judgment will take place. 
Christ has said that all mankind will 
be assembled before Him to be judged. 
In the following terms He has referred 
to it. 1. The form of a cross is to 
appear in the Heavens announcing His 
coming ; and the sight of it will fill the 
wicked with confusion. (Matt, xxiv, 
30). 2. Christ will come in great 
power and majesty. (Matt, xvi, 27 ; 
Luke xxi, 27). According to St. 
Thomas the lost souls will have some 
sort of perception of God's majesty 
and essence. 3. The angels will ac- 
company our Savior. (Matt. XXV. 31). 
i. All the nations of the earth will be 
assembled before Christ seated on His 
throne. (Matt, xxv, 32). 5. The 
blessed will be placed on His right 
hand and the lost on His left. (Matt, 
xxv, 33). 

The general judgment will take place 
in order that God's wisdom and justice 
may be made manifest to all creatures. 
Christ will be the judge in order that 
the honor of which He was robbed may 
be restored to Him before all creation. 
On this day the wisdom with which 
God has arranged the career of all 
mankind and of each individual will be 
displayed. It will be seen that God has 
planned happiness for all men even on 
earth, how all kind of suffering and 
even the sins of men have been turned 
by God to His advantage. The world's 
foolishness will in many cases appear 
as real wisdom. The reward men have 
earned and which the world has denied 
them will be made manifest. Our Sa- 



CHURCH TEACHING MISUNDERSTOOD. 315 



vior will exact from men an account 
even of even the most hidden things, 
the works of mercy they should have 
performed as well as the innermost 
thoughts of the mind. Martyrs will re- 
ceive honor for the contempt they have 
endured. All good works performed in 
secret will be revealed. Many rich and 
powerful will be lost, and their ser- 
vants saved. Many friends and rela- 
tives will be separated on that day. 
There is indeed a need of a general 
judgment in order that the providence 
of God, which on earth sometimes per- 
mits the good to suffer and the wicked 
to prosper, may in this way appear just 
before all men. 

The Place of Judgment. 

The valley of Josaphat, according to 
the common opinion of the prophets is 
the place destined for the general judg- 
ment. This valley witnessed Thabor 
and Calvary and Olivet with their 
tender memories of our Savior. Land- 
marks of our religious history are to be 
found there. Shall it also witness the 
last dread scene in the history of the 
human race, this valley, which lies be- 
tween Jerusalem and Mount Olivet ? 

It is generally held that while the 
prophets especially mention the valley 
of Josaphat as the place of general 
judgment, they mean simply that all 
mankind will be gathered in the vale of 
the "judgment of God." Josaphat in 
Hebrew means the judgment of God. 
All that can safely be taken from this 
is that a general judgment will surely 
take place in some spot appointed by 
God for this judgment. 

Heaven. 

The Church has defined that those 



who have not sinned after Baptism, 
and those who, having sinned after 
Baptism, have expiated those sins 
either on earth or in purgatory, are 
received at once into Heaven; while 
those who die in mortal sin descend at 
once to hell. (Council of Lyons 
11.1274). 

Christ gave His apostles a foretaste 
of the joys of Heaven in the Transfigu- 
ration on Mount Thabor. (Matt, 
xvii.) St. Stephen saw the heavens 
open (Acts vii, 55). St. Matthew re- 
ports the opening of heaven at the bap- 
tism of Christ (iii, 16). 

Heaven is a real place as well as a 
state. The popular belief that Heaven 
is somewhere beyond the stars is not 
of faith, yet it has some foundation. 
(Spirago-Clark Catechism) since 
Christ came down from Heaven and 
ascended again to Heaven. As a state 
of the soul Heaven consists in the 
vision of God (Matt, xviii, 10) and 
in the joys of the Holy Spirit. When 
they come to our assistance the angels 
and saints do not leave Heaven. Christ 
is King of Heaven. He called Himself 
King before Pilate. The good thief 
acknowledged Him as such on the 
Cross. 

In Heaven the blessed enjoy the 
vision of God, absolute freedom from 
pain and sorrow and the friendship of 
all the inhabitants of Heaven. "Eye 
hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither 
hath it entered into the heart of man, 
what things God hath prepared for 
them that love Him, ' ' says St. Paul on 
the subject. St. Augustine tells us it 
is easier to "name the evils from which 
the blessed are free than to count up 



316 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



their joys." "The blessed" says St. 
Bonaventure, "rejoice more over God's 
blessedness than over their own." The 
great joys in which they share banish 
all sadness. Their enjoyment is ever- 
lasting. St. Francis de Sales, speaking 
of the fact that the blessed enjoy vari- 
ous degrees of happiness in heaven, 
according as they have merited in life, 
uses a homely illustration in explana- 
tion of his teaching. "Two children 
receive from their father a piece of 
cloth to make a garment; the smaller 
child will not envy his brother the big- 
ger garment, but will be quite satis- 
fied with the one that fits him. More 
than this, in heaven each soul rejoices 
over the happiness of the other as 
though it were his own. Man is in- 
tended to take in Heaven the places of 
the fallen angels. Of these there are 
some from all nine choirs, which places 
are to be filled, proportioned to the 
amount of sanctifying grace which a 
man has at his death. (Eccles. xi, 3.) 
God acts in strictest justice in this 
matter. 

Hell. 

Hell may be defined as the place and 
state in which the devils and such hu- 
man beings as die in enmity with God 
suffer eternal torments. It is estab- 
lished that there is such a place. The 
Hebrew Bible has some announcements 
of such a place beyond the grave, 
namely, Isaiah xxxiii, 14; Isaiah lxvi, 
24; Dan. xii, 2. 

One turns more naturally to the New 
Testament for proofs concerning the 
existence of Hell. Passages in St. Mat- 
thew xviii, 8; xxv, 41 seq. ; St. Mark 



ix, 48 and others raise the matter be- 
yond all doubt. The New Testament 
has a new name for Hell, viz. Gehenna. 
(See article) which occurs repeatedly 
in St. Matthew v, 22, 29, 30; x, 28, 
and elsewhere. St. Mark has three ref- 
erences to it, (ix, 43, 45 and 47). St. 
Luke places it in xii, 5 ; St. James in 
iii, 6. In the Hebrew Bible the name, 
when used, simply means a place, as 
noted in article on Gehenna elsewhere 
in this work. 

Nature of Punishment. 

There is a two-fold distinction in the 
nature of the punishment, namely that 
of loss and of sense. The first of these 
is indicated in the sentence of our 
Lord upon the wicked, quoted from 
our catechism, "Depart from me, ye 
cursed, into everlasting fire which was 
prepared for the devil and his angels. ' ' 
It consists in the deprivation of the 
vision of God, which each human soul 
was intended to enjoy. From the 
knowledge of what they have forfeited 
the chief suffering of the wicked will 
arise. St. Chrysostom explains this at 
length, (ad Thedor, laps. 1. N, 10, 12) 
as "the most bitter torment of all," 
meaning the loss of the Kingdom of 
Heaven. No torments known to us can 
compare with it, according to St. 
Augustine. 

The punishment of sense embraces 
all that is inflicted in hell in the nature 
of suffering and torment, except the 
pain of loss. The term cannot mean 
punishment inflicted on the senses 
alone, for separated souls who have no 
senses, as we understand it, are still 
undoubtedly subjected to the punish- 



CHURCH TEACHING MISUNDERSTOOD. 317 



ment. While there are contrary opin- 
ions, at least in part, opposed, to this 
belief, yet the preponderating weight 
of tradition favors Petavius (De 
Angel, iii, 5) in his summing up of the 
matter. "At present, all theologians — 
nay, all Christians — are agreed that the 
fire of hell is corporeal and material, 
though as Vasquez rightly observes, 
the matter has not been settled as yet 
by any decree of the Church." St. 
Thomas answers the doubts of those 
who ask how material fire can affect 
spirits, in spite of the fact that no def- 
inite answer can be given, by a reflec- 
tion that "God gives to the fire as the 
instrument of His justice a preter- 
natural power of constraining the 
spirit and impeding its action, so as to 
cause intense suffering." (Suppl. qu. 
70, a. 3). But it is really impossible 
to understand a question so far beyond 
our reason and upon which Revelation 
is silent. 

The agony of remorse endured by 
those who are doomed to endure the 
society of other reprobates is consid- 
ered an important factor in the tor- 
ment. They know that all hope is gone. 
Despair sets in, because their will is 
utterly averted from God. After the 
resurrection, the body also suffers as a 
sharer in the crimes for which punish- 
ment is meted. 

Location of Hell. 

There is no certainty as to where 
Hell is located, although it is accepted 
that there is a real place of torment. 
Some of the fathers believe that it is 
in the center of the earth. St. Thoma3 
quoting St. Augustine, and St. Gre- 



gory admit that no one can know where 
Hell is, unless he has a special revela- 
tion on the point. • 

Length of Torment. 

Scripture teaches that the punish- 
ment is eternal. St. Matt, xviii, 8, 
speaks of "eternal fire;" St. Mark, 
ix, 48, of a fire that "is not 
quenched. ' ' The sentence of our Lord 
upon the wicked, quoted in the cate- 
chism from St. Matthew xxv, 41-45, is 
further proof. Some doubt the inter- 
pretation of the word "eternal," yet 
the fact that Christ sets "eternal" fire 
in sharp antithesis to "eternal" life 
assures us that He did mean to warn 
men that there is no hope in Hell and 
no escape from it. Other quotations 
bear this out, "unquenchable fire," 
"undying worm," etc. Meyer, a cele- 
brated non-Catholic commentator, ad- 
mits a strict and absolute meaning to 
the words "eternal fire." 

There are traditions to the effect that 
the torment of Hell will come to an 
end some time, yet, by far the greatest 
weight of opinion is on the side of eter- 
nity. Origen is the originator of the 
contrary idea. Before his time nobody 
held this view. Since then some writers 
have followed his line of thinking. The 
name of Origen stands among others 
condemned by the Church at the Fifth 
General Council. No particular dogma 
of his is mentioned in the Anathema, 
however. But the Fourth Council of 
the Lateran speaks of the "everlasting 
punishment" which awaits the repro- 
bate in terms which cannot be evaded 
by those who like to explain away the 
word "eternal." 



318 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



God's justice demands that the 
wicked be punished. Whatever may 
be said on the point, we must always 
remember that God acts for reasons in- 
scrutable to us, and that if reason can- 
not penetrate God's designs, it is at 
the same time unable to show that the 
conduct which Scripture attributes to 
God is unjust. Our belief rests on the 
words of merciful warning spoken so 
many times in plain statement of this 
doctrine by our Blessed Lord Himself. 

The Communion of Saints. 

The ninth article of the Apostles' 
Creed is that of the Communion of 
Saints. By this is meant a union which 
binds together members of the Church 
upon earth with members of the 
Church suffering in Purgatory and 
those who are triumphant in Heaven. 

There is communion between mem- 
bers of the Church upon earth because 
we partake of the same sacraments, 
are governed under one lawful head, 
and assist each other by prayer and 
other good works. When St. Paul en- 
courages the Corinthians to help their 
needy brethren at Jerusalem (II Cor. 
viii, 14) he is so understood by com- 
mentators. We assist each other by 
our prayers and good works. The 
branch on earth is called the Church 
Militant. 

This same assistance is rendered the 
suffering souls in Purgatory. The 
Holy Spirit works in all the mem- 
bers. (I Cor. xii, 13.) The Church 
suffering in Purgatory is the second 
member of this Communion of Saints. 
We, who are upon earth can help the 
souls in Purgatory by our prayers 



and other good works. The Jews be- 
lieved this was possible (II Mach. 
xii) since Judas Maccabeus caused 
sacrifices to be offered for those who 
fell in battle. In the Memento made 
after the Consecration a special peti- 
tion is offered by the priest for the 
departed. 

The Saints Help Us. 

The saints in Heaven can help us 
by their prayers before the throne of 
God (Apoc. viii, 4), especially if we 
call upon them for help. They form 
the third branch of the Communion 
Saints, namely, the Church Trium- 
phant in Heaven. The Church 
teaches that when we call upon the 
Saints for help, they unite their pray- 
ers with ours. Their intercession for 
us has greater efficacy. St. John 
Chrysostom compares their interces- 
sion to the pleading of old soldiers 
who display their wounds. Their 
power has often been demonstrated 
in miracles. 

Our dead relatives and friends, who 
are in Heaven are always praying tor 
us before the throne of God and often 
save us from danger. The prophet 
Jeremias prayed in Limbo for the 
Jewish nation. (II Mach. xv, 14.) St. 
Augustine was much advanced in 
sanctity after the death of his mother, 
St. Monica. So do the Saints assist 
the souls in Purgatory. Our Blessed 
Lady alone rescues daily some souls 
by her prayers. St. Peter Damien was 
a great believer in the efficacy of her 
intercession especially on her feast- 
days and on Saturday, a day dedi- 
cated to her. Our angel guardian and 



CHURCH TEACHING MISUNDERSTOOD. 319 



the angels, whom especially we have 
honored upon earth, all assist us. One 
of the prayers in common use speaks 
of St. Michael as our defender and 
protector "in the day of battle" with 
the world of temptation and sin. 

Limbo. 

It is an article of the Creed that our 
Lord descended into Hell or Limbo, 
meaning that His first act after His 
death was to carry to the just souls 
imprisoned there the joyful news of 
their redemption. The just souls who 
died before Christ redeemed the 
world were there awaiting the time 
of their redemption. "He preached to 
those spirits that were in prison." 
(I Peter iii, 18, 19.) Some such place 
was necessary since Heaven was 
closed for thousands of years by the 
sin of our first parents, and was first 
to be opened by Christ. (Heb. ix, 
6-8.) His mission to the souls in 
Limbo was then to comfort them, to 
set them free for entrance into 
Heaven and to show forth His power 
and majesty even there in the lower 
regions. (Phil, ii, 10.) 

Limbo is considered to have been a 
place of rest and joy, although the joy 
was necessarily imperfect in contrast 
with that of Heaven. One writer, 
Estins, thinks that Christ preached to 
the souls in Purgatory also, thus in- 
terpreting the text of I Peter iii, 18, 
19. This passage permits other inter- 
pretations, however, some very differ- 
ent from that of Estins. 

Limbo of the Infants. 

The Limbo of the infants means that 
those who die without baptism, and in 



whose case baptism has not been sup- 
plied in some other way, cannot enter 
Heaven. This is plainly stated in the 
Council of Florence in the Decree of 
Union. But there is a natural repug- 
nance to the belief that those who 
have committed no sin should be tor- 
tured in Hell, and this difficulty led 
theologians to adopt various theories 
to account for souls in this state. 

St. Bernard thought that such in- 
fants might be saved by the faith of 
their parents, that God might be 
pleased to supply the want of Baptism 
in this way. Some thought the lack of 
Baptism might be supplied by the wish 
for the Sacrament on the part of the 
parents. The great majority of theo- 
logians, among whom is St. Thomas, 
thought that infants dying in original 
sin suffer no "pain of sense" but are 
simply excluded from heaven. St. 
Gregory Nazianzen agreed with this. 
As St. Thomas puts it, such infants do 
not suffer because pain of punishment 
comes only from personal guilt, of 
which there is none. They do not grieve 
because they do not see God ; more than 
that, they rejoice, because they share 
in God 's goodness and in many natural 
perfections. They know and love God 
by use of their natural powers. 

The existence of Limbo for infants 
has never been defined by the Church, 
although it is a common belief within 
the Church. Those who scoffed at it 
have been censured. Pius VI thus 
condemned the Jansenist Council of 
Pictoia. 

Canonization of Saints. 

The processes in the Church, by 
which a certain person, or persons, de- 



320 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



ceased, are selected for special consider 
ation and devotion, and formally de- 
clared to be among the number of the 
blessed, is called Beatification and Can- 
onization. 

To pay honor to the dead whom gen- 
eral opinion declares to have lived well 
is an instinct of human nature. Pagan 
Roman citizens brought the images 
of their ancestors into their villas. They 
even deified their dead rulers. China 
worships its ancestors.. Other nations 
have similar customs. All nations have 
their heroes, and it is a beautiful ele- 
ment in patriotism reasonably to recall 
their deeds. 

The Church has always encouraged 
people to distinguish, with singular 
honor, certain of her children who have 
lived before us, whose virtue and good- 
ness have reached the "heroic" level. 
In order to assure us that such persons 
were truly virtuous, the Church estab- 
lished a careful and deliberate process 
in which to test the truth of facts, and 
probe the moral significance of actions. 
Her judgments and her processes are 
beyond criticism. 

The question of ability or wealth 
possessed by those whom the Church 
recommends for our veneration is a 
matter of no concern. She is just as 
willing to raise St. Isadore, a poor 
gardener of Madrid, to the ranks of 
the Blessed, as St. Augustine or St. 
Thomas Aquinas. The proof of emi- 
nent virtue is all that is asked, and as 
a conclusive test of this high order of 
virtue she requires the authentication 
of miracles worked, by or through the 
intercession of the person considered. 

The possession of this virtue and the 



illustration of it must be established by 
testimony. Witnesses, fellow-country- 
men, those who have known the candi- 
date in life may testify. For fear that 
this local testimony may be biased, the 
Church asks other evidence, not subject 
to provincial or national sympathies 
and antipathies. Each nation has a 
fondness for certain so-called holy per- 
sons. And it is unlawful to honor 
any person publicly as a saint, however 
celebrated for miracles, without the 
consent of the Universal Church. 

Various Steps of Procedure. 

A work of Pope Benedict XIV, 
translated into English by the Fathers 
of the Brompton Oratory, is authority 
for the method employed by the 
Church. There are three degrees of 
sanctity, that of Venerable, that of 
Blessed and that of Saint. 

Thirteen or fourteen different step.? 
are necessary in the process of Beati- 
fication, which extend always over 
many years. This is necessary to se- 
cure judgment from investigators of 
trained and absolutely impartial 
intellects. The character and be- 
havior of the reputed saint are sub- 
jected to the severest possible strain. 
The inquiry is very minute, extending 
to details of every-day life. Particular 
virtues, appropriate to the person's 
state in life, must be evident. The 
theological virtues of faith, hope and 
charity, and the cardinal virtues of 
prudence, justice, temperance and 
fortitude must be displayed with all 
that these virtues stand for, practiced 
to a degree of perfection, not alone in 



CHURCH TEACHING MISUNDERSTOOD. 321 



certain circumstances, but as a per- 
manent habit. 

The first step is the enquiry made by 
the Bishop of the diocese as to the repu- 
tation of the person. This being satis- 
factorily reported, the Bishop, or an 
official from Rome, enquires whether 
there has been any undue consideration 
paid this person by people of the local- 
ity. Third, the result of these two en- 
quiries are sent to Rome to the secre- 
tary of the Congregation of Rites. 
Supporters of the request open the en- 
quiry before this body. A promotor 
fidei (devil's advocate) is appointed, 
whose duty it is to point out weakness 
in the evidence and to raise objections. 
Sixth, the congregation examines all 
writings of the person. If favorable, 
Rome now adopts the cause as its own, 
and gives the congregation power to 
examine the reality and nature of the 
virtue and miracles ascribed to the per- 
son to be beatified. Ten years elapse 
before this is done. A delegation of 
three bishops is appointed to try the 
case, examine witnesses, etc. A report 
is sent back to the Congregation of 
Rites, examined by them, arguments 
heard for and against. If the verdict 
is favorable, a second delegation is ap- 
pointed for a new enquiry into the 
facts. The congregation considers this 
delegation's report in three successive 
assemblies, at the last of which the 
Pope is present. The Pope gives his 
decision. A new assembly is held to 
decide whether beatification may be 
proceeded with without further delay. 
If favorable the Pope names the day 
for the ceremony. The beatification 
takes place on this day, in the Vatican 



Church. The brief from the Pope is 
read ; the picture or image of the newly- 
beatified is unveiled. This entitles the 
person to limited "cultus, " either in a 
particular country, or in a particular 
religious order. 

Two miracles must have been worked 
through the intercession of the "Bless- 
ed" person since the beatification, be- 
fore canonization may be considered. 
This must be established under the 
same rigorous conditions as the miracles 
proven before beatification. The con- 
gregation assembles three times, the 
third time with the Pope present, and a 
declaration is made that no doubt exists 
of the miracles in question, and that 
there is no reason why the canonization 
should not take place. This is done at 
St. Peter's with imposing ceremony 
in honor of the new saint. A Papal 
Bull is issued to this effect signed by 
the Pope and thirty-eight Cardinals. 

Reverence and Invocation of the 
Saints. 

Catholics believe that the saints in 
Heaven are to be honored and invoked, 
that they offer prayers to God for man, 
and that their relics are to be held in 
veneration. 

In the Bible (Genesis xix, 1) we 
read that Angels were worshiped by 
Abraham and Josua. Samuel and 
Eliseus were treated with great respect 
(I Kings, I Samuel xxviii, 14). In 
other places in the old Testament we 
find tribute to the saints. But the 
feeling we have for the saints is not 
that which we must have for saints. 
We honor and venerate the saints. We 
worship God, our feeling toward God 



'^22 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



means adoration, the highest degree: 
towards creatures it means only re- 
spect, reverence due them because of 
exceptional virtue or position. 

Christians pray to God. They also 
realize that it is good to ask the prayers 
of holy persons who are here upon 
earth. St. Paul did this (Romans xv, 
30). 

Union of Heaven and Earth. 

That the saints know something of 
what passes on earth and can sym- 
pathize with us, may be inferred from 
what our Savior says in St. Matthew 
(xxii, 30), that the saints "shall be 
as the Angels of God in Heaven," and 
from what He says in St Luke (xv, 
7, 10), "I say unto you, there shall be 
joy before the Angels of God upon one 
sinner doing penance" If the Angels 
see a sinner doing penance, the saincs 
who are like Angels of God can do the 
same. 

Moses, when with God on the moun- 
tain, far away and out of sight, was 
allowed to know that his people had 
fallen into idolatry. He could see what 
was passing elsewhere and could pray 
to God for them. It is only natural to 
suppose the saints can do the same. 
These blessed souls in Heaven, who are 
bound to us by ties of nature and grace, 
must have a sincere desire to help us 
in our necessities. We feel that God 
will not withhold from them this satis- 
faction. We believe that the Blessed 
Virgin and the Saints enjoy the power 
of interceding for us with God, a priv- 
ilege bestowed upon them by Jesus 
Christ. They are not Mediators in the 
sense that Jesus is a Mediator between 



God and man, because Jesus is a Medi- 
ator of Redemption and intercedes by 
His own rights and merits. The Saints 
may intercede only through the merits 
of Christ. Therefore, all our prayers 
end with the words "through Jesus 
Christ our Lord." 

The Church does not forbid our hon- 
oring the saints, but rather approves of 
it, for by honoring those who are chosen 
friends of God, we honor God Himself. 
We pray to the saints, but we ask only 
their help and prayers. We ask this as- 
members of the Communion of saints, 
in which we, the members of the 
"Church Militant" on earth, ask help 
from members of the "Church Tri- 
umphant" in Heaven, either for our- 
selves or for members of the "Church 
Suffering" in Purgatory. We help 
each other and keep alive the bond be- 
tween us. 

Pictures of the Saints. 

We cherish pictures and relics of the 
saints just as we cherish pictures or 
mementos of deceased relatives and 
friends We never forget that these 
things are but statues, pictures, etc.- 
but they bring to our minds a vivid 
recollection of the person they repre- 
sent. They excite good thoughts. It 
is right to show respect to such things. 
We do not, of course, pray to objects 
that have no life. We pray to the per- 
son represented, reminded by the sight, 
of virtues practiced and encouraged to 
imitation of these virtues in our own 
lives. 

Purgatory. 

Purgatory is a place of punishment 
in the other world, where some souls 



CHURCH TEACHING MISUNDERSTOOD. 323 



suffer for a time before they enter 
Heaven. 

Catholics believe in eternal reward 
or punishment according as our lives 
are meritorious in the sight of God, or 
not. Life is a period of probation in 
which we are all tried and tested. To 
depart this world unrepentant, with 
mortal sin upon the soul, means eternal 
punishment. Such cases are rare in 
proportion to the number of people 
dying. But there is not one amongst 
us who is not guilty of sin. Would 
you, therefore, for instance, punish a 
boy who steals an apple just as severely 
as a murderer dying unrepentant? 
The distinction between great and 
small sins must be considered. 

Now, of course, nothing defiled can 
enter Heaven. The soul, having taint 
of sin even in small degree upon it, 
must first be purified, and Purgatory 
means a place of purification. Catho- 
lics believe it to be only reasonable 
that the soul, not as yet thoroughly 
purified from its contact with the 
world, should remain in Purgatory for 
a time after death, till this purification 
is accomplished. 

Satisfaction for Sin. 

For a proper understanding of this 
doctrine, it must be kept in mind, that 
satisfaction for sin is an essential fea- 
ture. Christ's Passion and Death alone 
can satisfy for our sins. We can be saved 
only through the merits of Jesus, and 
to avail ourselves of these merits we 
must have faith. Good works, therefore, 
will not suffice without faith, the two 
must work together and in harmony 



and either one without the other will 
not be sufficient. 

It is only reasonable to suppose that 
our good works please God. He Him- 
self teaches this when He says, that 
whoever gives a cup of cold water in 
His name shall not go unrewarded. 
Our efforts in good works here in life 
shall receive reward. Christ approves 
of them, and they may be applied to 
the satisfaction for sin. 

It is true that Christ's redemption 
has prepared the way to salvation for 
us. But the weakness of our will and 
the other effects of sin remain in us, 
unless they are removed by some par- 
ticular miracle. 

Atonement. 

Catholics believe that a man may re- 
move or avoid the natural consequences 
of his sins by subjecting himself to pen- 
ances or discipline. In this way he 
does only what is necessary when the 
merits of Christ are laid at his door. 
He prepares himself for their recep- 
tion. 

King David satisfied for his sins ac- 
cording to the prophet Nathan (II 
Samuel xii, 13) also by offering sacri- 
fice to God; later, "the plague was 
stayed from Israel." (v, 25.) Here is 
an example of temporal punishment 
appointed by God for sin, and also the 
removal by substituting in its place, 
prayers and sacrifice. 

All Christians probably owe a con- 
siderable temporal penalty for their 
past sins, and they will have to atone 
for them before they can see God in 
Heaven. But they can substitute some- 
thing for their suffering, just as David 



324 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



did. This can be done by means of 
prayer, self-denial, mortification and 
sacrifice. 

We believe, then, that most Chris- 
tians who die in the love of God go to 
Purgatory for a time to expiate their 
venial sins. We believe that the unre- 
pentant at death do not go to Purga- 
tory. Such are lost for ever. 

For those in Purgatory prayers 
may be offered. We pray always for 
anything pleasing to God, and it is 
certainly pleasing to Him to have souls 
released from Purgatory. David of- 
fered sacrifice to satisfy for the tem- 
poral punishment due his sins. Now. u 
his scarifices were accepted, why 
should not our more perfect sacrifice, 
the Mass, be accepted for the souls of 
the dead? Judas Maccabeus had sacri- 
fice offered for this purpose. "It is, 
therefore, a holy and wholesome 
thought to pray for the dead that they 
may be loosed from their sins." 

Does God Permit Great Calamities? 

Occasionally the world is shocked by 
some unusually lamentable calamity in 
which there is great loss of life. There 
are people who ask at once, if God is 
good why does He permit such awful 
things ? 

As a rule people who question God's 
providence clo so from a selfish motive, 
when something affects themselves. If 
we could free ourselves from such 
selfishness we could see that calamities 
are not necessarily evils. There is 
nothing in this world without its good 
side. Man must die. His life should 
be means of providing a happy death. 
Many people dying quietly in bed 



might drift out of life unrepent- 
ant, whereas, if they were face to face 
with disaster such as fire or earth- 
quake might turn instinctively to God. 

The number of possible contingencies 
in life are so great and so interwoven 
with those of others that the possibili- 
ties involved in God's providence are 
enormous and varied in kind. Any 
attempt to imagine a harmony of those 
contingencies is beyond finite power. 
But God's infinite wisdom orders all 
for the best. Only man's malevolent 
will can prevent what seems disastrous 
from having good for man as a final 
result. Our trust in God provides al- 
ways this consolation in such afflic- 
tions. 

The Folly of Superstitions. 

A sermon in the Homiletic Monthly 
points out the folly of believing that 
certain charms and articles give pro- 
tection against harm. For instance : 

Someone, perhaps, wears a four- 
leaved clover, fancying that it will 
bring him good luck ; another thinks ic 
lucky to nail a horse shoe over his door; 
others carry about with them some won- 
derful prayer, on which is stated that 
if any one carries it about and repeats 
it daily, he is sure to be safe from mis- 
fortune by sea and by land. In order 
more thoroughly to deceive good peo- 
ple, such prayers refer to our Holy 
Father the Pope, who is said to have 
attached great indulgences to them. 
Whoever carries about such prayer sins 
by superstition, for God has never 
promised that no misfortune will befall 
us. It is well for us to pray, but wa 



CHURCH TEACHING MISUNDERSTOOD. 325 



must leave it to God to help us when, 
where and how He sees best. 

A superstitious person trusts, not in 
God, but in things that are often very 
trivial and foolish ; he hopes in them, 
and expects them to help him This is, 
of course, an insult to our Father in 
Heaven, for He alone is our God, and 
there is none other who can help us ; He 
has said : "Thou shalt not have strange 
gods before Me." 

Any attempt on our part to secure 
knowledge of the future is foolish. 
Many are anxious to pry into the fu- 
ture, and they have recourse to fortune- 
tellers, as if these people knew every- 
thing, or had received a special rev- 
elation from Almighty God. Foolish 
persons allow fortune tellers to fore- 
tell the future by means of a pack of 
cards, or by looking at the lines on their 
hands, and they believe all the non- 
sense told them, to find out, when it is 
too late, that they have been cheated. 

Others try to find out the future 
from dreams. They know God some- 
times has allowed people to have 
true dreams, so they go to fakers who 
profess to be able to interpret all 
dreams, or they buy dream books, for 
their own interpretation. Such actions 
are not only foolish but really danger- 
ous. 

What silly things concern super- 
stitious people. They worry constantly 
about what a thing portends: spillin? 
salt is supposed to mean there will be 
a quarrel; thirteen at table they hold 
as death to one of the party. Oc- 
casionally a chance happening seems 
to bear out the belief, but believers in 
such signs never stop to count the num- 



ber of times nothing has happened. If 

so they would soon be cured of their 
superstition, says a writer in the Sa- 
cred Heart Keview, who closes his re- 
marks with the admonition : ' ' You 
ought to put all your confidence in God 
alone, for He has said : I am the Lord, 
thy God, who alone am willing and able 
to help thee ; thou shalt have no strange 
gods before Me." 

Smuggling. 

The wrong in smuggling is something 
about which people frequently concern 
themselves, especially those who live 
on the border between countries where 
payment of duty is exacted by the 
government of the country into which 
new goods are being brought. 

Smuggling as commonly understood 
is a fraudulent importing or exporting 
of merchandise in violation of the civil 
law, in particular without the payment 
of duties. The wrong of smuggling 
consists, in the first place, in its being 
a deception by which a lawful ordi- 
nance is violated by fraud ; in the sec- 
ond place, in its depriving the common- 
wealth, administered for the benefit of 
its members collectively, of a portion of 
those means which, by common con- 
sent and by representative expression, 
are necessary for the government of the 
community and the safeguarding of its 
interests. 

Assuming that the laws of taxation, 
and the reasons for demanding import 
and export duty on certain goods, are 
not tyrannous or exorbitant, but just 
and fair or necessary in the common 
estimation, the act of smuggling is the 
violation of a just law that offends 



326 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



against truthfulness, obedience and 
equity, all of which bind the conscience 
under ordinary circumstances. 

Of course the question of the justice 
and necessity of such taxes is a matter 
upon which the representatives of the 
people may not agree. A majority 
may cause the tax to become local. 
There is a distinction between legal 
justice and justice in conscience, which 
sets smuggling as a legal offence or a 
moral offence. As a legal or penal of- 
fence it runs the risk of a severe pen- 
alty, but does not bind to restitution, 
because no injustice has been done by 
the individual act to the community in 
which the law was enacted. The law is 
clearly not a necessity but rather the 
accident of superior influence. 

The penalty set upon such infrac- 
tions of the law seems to be arranged 
in such amount that no injury is done 
the community. The excess derived 
from the capture is calculated to cover 
the losses of occasional fraud. Per- 
sonal acts of smuggling seem to be 
viewed in this light by the community 
as a civil body, when performed rarely 
and infrequently. Systematic and con- 
tinuous smuggling is, of course, a dif- 
ferent matter. 

(Quoted from Eccles. Rev., Sept., '19.) 
Gambling. 

It is an accepted fact that from the 
earliest ages, the mind of man, fatigued 
and tired from any particular activity, 
would find relief, not so often in ces- 
sation from work, as in change of oc- 
cupation. To this may be traced the 
fact that gaming has been accepted 
generally from the earliest period of 



history, as one of the most widely 
known means of mental relaxation. 

Gaming as a healthy means of re- 
laxation and mental rest is not being 
defended from any standpoint. Con- 
tinued participation in games of chance 
is undeniably harmful. It destroys the 
mental stamina of the participant. The 
ever increasing desire for personal gain 
causes him to see only his personal 
triumph in the outcome. The emotions 
are unrestrained and the rapid transi- 
tion from one extreme to another 
means mental, moral and even physical 
deterioration. No man can indulge in 
the practice habitually, and some men 
not even occasionally, without losing 
that "sound mind in a sound body" 
which is demanded for healthy pro- 
gress in life. 

In the early periods of history, taking 
part in games of chance was encour- 
aged among the nations of antiquity. 
The vicious gambling practices which 
later came into vogue were subse- 
quently condemned, but with no more 
effect than our efforts at legislation to- 
day. With the coming of Christianity, 
gaming practices were not distin- 
guished from gambling, but were con- 
demned with it as an outgrowth of 
paganism. But not for long. The dis- 
tinction appears in the works of St. 
John Chrysostom and of St John of 
Salisbury and is developed fully in 
Saint Thomas Aquinas. The healthy 
aspects of gaming were set forth in 
"De Ludo." Gaming, as he views 
it, is recreative and useful, since it af- 
fords a proper field for the tired mind 
and the wearied body. Gambling, how- 
ever, the Saint calls a vicious out- 



CHURCH TEACHING MISUNDERSTOOD. 327 



growth of gaining and a practice to be 
avoided by all. Gaming, as a means of 
recreation, is quite different from gam- 
bling indulged in for itself. The for- 
mer, is good, the latter is evil. (Eccles. 
Rev. March 27, 15). 

The public mind is so frequently 
shocked with revelations of unspeak- 
able conditions prevailing through the 
vice of gambling, and each individual 
meets in his life so many examples of 
the evils of it, that attention to so great 
an evil must be given Organized sys- 
tems prey upon the attraction which 
gaming has for the average person. 
Brazenly and shamelessly, the game is 
distorted until there is no chance for 
the unsuspecting victim. The passions 
of man lead him on and on until his 
whole substance is gone and there is 
left for him nothing but shame, dis 
grace, and then — suicide. 

Eeligion and morality in the educa 
tion of youth is necessary for the proper 
understanding of such questions. The 
young person must be made to see the 
dangers of gambling in any form, par- 
ticularly in its excesses. To hazard 
more than one can afford, to risk that 
upon which one 's family depends is in- 
creasing the sinfulness into which one's 
passion will inevitably lead him unless 
restraint is kept always upon the de- 
sire. Certain it is that the practice, 
no matter from what standpoint it is 
considered, is one that should meet with 
the whole hearted condemnation of all 
sensible people because of the dangers 
with which it is involved. 

Church Teaching on Temperance. 

The teaching of the Church rests on 



the great principle of the cardinal vir- 
tue of temperance Following the ex- 
ample of our Blessed Lord and the un- 
interrupted teaching of twenty centur- 
ies, the Church of today devotes all its 
energy towards the inculcation of 
temperate ideals. Beginning with the 
young in the schools, the advantages 
of sobriety are shown in the evils of 
interperance, while always it is made 
clear that our Divine Master held 
temperance as the greatest of virtues. 
When receiving the Sacrament of Con- 
firmation, it has grown to be a univer- 
sal practice for the Bishop to admin- 
ister a pledge against the use of all in- 
toxicating drink to be effective until 
the boys shall have reached the age of 
twenty-one years. During the Lenten 
season each year there comes the an- 
nouncement from the Holy See, bearing 
the endorsement of each Bishop, that it 
is their united desire that the faithful 
make some unusual sacrifice to make 
up for the concessions granted in the 
matter of fasting, such as to abstain 
from the use of intoxicating liquors. 
In many places this takes the particu- 
lar form of self denial, actuated by the 
memory of the sacred thirst of our 
Divine Lord on the Cross, and special 
efforts are made to secure widespread 
attention. "I Thirst" cards are dis- 
tributed seeking signatures to the 
promise to abstain. Catholics are 
taught to do every thing in their power 
to exterminate the evil of intemperance 
and whatever leads to it. They are 
cautioned that they must avoid not 
only the evil of sin, but also the occa- 
sion of it, and if drink in any way can 
be construed as an occasion of evil, 



328 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



then it is something that must be 
avoided under pain of sin. 

The Mortal Sin of Drink. 

The following decisions as to mortal 
sin in connection with strong drinks, 
which were laid down by Bishop 
O'Reilly of Liverpool some years ago, 
we commend to the thoughtful consid- 
eration of those who look lightly upon 
the drink habit and to those who are 
given to speak of it as "a good man's 
failing." 

"Whosoever drinks deliberately to 
such an extent as to lose his reason com- 
mits a mortal sin. 

"Whosoever knows by past experi- 
ence that when drunk he is accustomed 
to blaspheme or utter other improper 
language or injure others about him, 
beside the sin of drunkenness, is guilty 
of those other crimes committed during 
the state of intoxication. 

"Whosoever does not adopt the 
proper means for the correction of this 
vicious habit of drunkenness remains 
in a continuous state of sin. 

"Whosoever entices or urges another 
who, he foresees will be intoxicated, 
to excess in drinking, commits a mortal 
sin. 

"Any seller of liquor who continues 
to supply strong drink to any individ- 
ual who, he knows, will become intoxi- 
cated therewith, commits a mortal sin 
because he deliberately co-operates in 
the grievous sin of another. 

"Whosoever is guilty of excess ia 
drinking, though not to intoxication, 
in such a way as to cause distress in his 
family by squandering that which is 
needed for its supports, commits a mor- 



tal sin against charity. In like manner, 
whosoever thus renders himself unable 
to pay his lawful debts, though he may 
not drink to intoxication, commits a 
mortal sin." 

The C. T. A. U. 

The Catholic Total Abstinence Union 
of America was founded February 22, 
1872. During all its years, it haa 
achieved gratifying success and won 
for itself a high and honorable position 
among Catholic societies. It has de- 
served the praise and gratitude of all 
men and women who cherish the wel- 
fare of the individual, the home, the 
Church, and society. This Union has 
always insured respect for our Holy 
Religion, wherever total abstinence 
societies have been fostered. It has 
been a potent agency of the Church, 
in saving youth, preserving and en- 
nobling manhood, strengthening the 
weak, reclaiming the fallen, and bring- 
ing the blessings of sobriety and Chris- 
tian virtue in every form to countless 
homes and lives. 

The official organ of the Union is the 
Catholic Temperance Advocate, pub- 
lished at the National Headquarters, 
Very Reverend P. J. O'Callaghan, edi- 
tor and manager. 

Effective workers among the priests 
are not wanting. For a period of years, 
an excellent and self-sacrificing priest 
of the Cleveland diocese, at his own ex- 
pense, visited the seminaries and col- 
leges of the country for the purpose of 
urging candidates for the priesthood 
to become total abstainers, and to lead 
in the work of the cause. Many bishops 
insist that their candidates so pledge 



CHURCH TEACHING MISUNDERSTOOD. 329 



themselves before ordination. In every 
city there are workers who specialize 
in the work, and every mission 
band urges its necessity, aiding by the 
distribution of circulars and reading 
matter. 

But the part of the work not at all 
advertised and not often heard of is 
the work the parish schools are doing 
to inculcate the principles of temper- 
ance among the children. There is the 
real battle ground, and there all the 
efforts of the Church are directed to- 
wards making the rising generation 
realise properly the advantages, spirit- 
ual and otherwise, of the virtue of 
temperance. 

Bootlegging. 

What is the guilt of a person who is 
known, according to the accepted term, 
as a bootlegger? Such a person is a 
salesman of liquor in defiance of a law 
which forbids its manufacture, sale or 
transport. 

Catholics are bound to obey all laws. 
There is no exception to this rule. Tt 
is sinful then to sell liquor under the 
above circumstances. Canada has 
denied the Sacraments to anyone per- 
sisting in this traffic. This indicates 
the gravity of the bootleggers' offense 
in the eyes of the Church. It can be 
concluded that there is grave sin in 
such transactions. 

The offense is worse where it can be 
foreseen that the customer will commit 
sin by drinking to excess or by neglect- 
ing his family or in other ways offend- 
ing God excessively. In selling such a 
person liquor there is a share in the re- 
sponsibility for all such after-effects. 



Is Suicide Ever Lawful? 

"When you're wounded and lying on 

Afghanistan's plains 
And the women come out to cut up 

what remains, 
Just roll to your rifle and blow out 
your brains 
And go to your God like a soldier. 

Kipling's lines taken from the " Bar- 
rack Room Ballads" are made the sub- 
ject of an enquiry as to whether "Sui- 
cide is ever lawful," which the Rever- 
end Father Ernest R. Hull, S. J., an- 
swers in the Catholic Mind, New' York, 
March, 1916. 

"The practice of suicide seems to 
have gone through several phases in 
human history. First comes the purely 
natural instinct of self-preservation, 
the love of life no matter what evils 
may attend it. Then comes the idea, 
arising from a noble instinct, of sacri- 
ficing one's own life for the sake of 
others, for the saving of one's family or 
country, of which we have many in- 
stances. Then, as civilization grew, 
we find that with its artificiality there 
came a keen, proud sense of honor, 
which led to abuse. 

Christianity rectified this crooked 
idea by emphasizing the principle, that 
a man's life was not his own, but was 
something given to him in trust by 
God Therefore, it was not to be done 
away with at will. Christianity still 
approved of self-sacrifice in the inter- 
est of justice and right, where such 
sacrifice was calculated to bring benefit 
to a noble or just cause. But such 
self-sacrifice is not suicide ; it was the 
willing acceptance of death from 



330 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



others in the act of championing the 
right. 

The revival of pagan ideals brought 
suicide to the fore again, through the 
Renaissance, as one of the expedients of 
a great soul to avoid disgrace, dishonor 
or disaster. And in proportion as be- 
lief in God and the ethical principles of 
Christianity decline, so in proportion 
do pagan views grow. Moreover, on 
account of the fact that every in- 
stance is now reported in the daily 
papers people have grown quite used 
to it. Suicide has become an ordinary 
expedient and resource for any one who 
finds himself in a quandary. If an 
army officer suffers defeat; if a bank 
cashier has defaulted and on the point 
of being found out ; or if any one suf- 
fers a financial loss or bereavement; if 
a man is in ill-health or in pain or 
depression of mind, there always seems 
one way out of it ; either to blow one 's 
brains out, to take arsenic, cut one's 
throat, or hang one's self. 

Is suicide of this kind an act of 
bravery, it is misplaced and applied 
one sense it is an act of bravery, that 
a man should have the courage to pro- 
ceed so violently against himself, over- 
riding the instinct of self-preservation 
and love of life. But on the other 
hand, it is decidedly an act of coward- 
ice, because it means shirking the re- 
sponsibilities of life, instead of facing 
them like a man. Even as an act of 
bravery, it is misplaced and applied 
to a wrong subject. But in any ease 
there still survives among right think- 
ing men, a deep conviction that suicide 
is an essentially unreasonable act. This 
is conclusively proved by the strenuous 



efforts made at every inquest to bring 
in a verdict of temporary insanity, 
the implication being that, so long as a 
man is of sound mind, he will never 
dream of such an act. 

Suicide is essentially immoral. We 
can admire all instances in which a man 
exposes himself to certain death in order 
to save the life or honor of some other 
person or to promote the well-being of 
his family or country or to stand up 
for his religion. But this does not 
mean suicide. Suicide is the deliber- 
ate taking away of one's own life or 
assuming to oneself that dominion over 
life and death which belongs properly 
to God alone. And no matter what the 
motive, this is never allowed. Hence 
the sentiment quoted in the verses of 
Kipling must be condemned as pure 
and simple paganism and a total con- 
travention of the elements of the moral 
law. 

Church Law and Autopsies. 

Very often after the death of a rela- 
tive, Catholic people are met with the 
request on the part of the attending 
physician that a postmortem examina 
tion of the body be permitted in the 
interests of science. It is frequently 
pointed out that there were unusual 
symptoms in the case and that an ex- 
amination of the body will be of inesti- 
mable value in future cases. There is 
a natural repugnance against permit- 
ting any such mutilation of the body of 
our dear ones, but aside from this the 
question is often asked, whether the 
Church has legislated on the point. 
Catholic hospitals have a very pro- 
nounced opposition to the practice, bo 



CHURCH TEACHING MISUNDERSTOOD. 331 



much so, that there seems to be consid- 
erable grounds for the opinion that the 
Church has legislated on the matter. 

This question in asked in the Ameri- 
can Catholic Ecclesiastical Review 
(1915) and the answer given is as fol- 
lows: "The Church, as far as we have 
been able to ascertain, has never legis- 
lated explicitly in the manner of autop- 
sies. She has, as everybody knows, 
enacted laws in regard to cremation, 
and, while these decrees do not, of 
course, prohibit the dissection of the 
human body, they suggest that consid- 
eration for the bodies of the dead as 
"temples of the Holy Ghost" should 
have weight in the case. On the other 
hand, as cremation is allowed in ex- 
ceptional eases, so the dissection of the 
body is allowed in the interests of 
science. The rights of the relatives 
are safeguarded by civil law, and, as 
long as the law does not permit the in- 
discriminate practice of autopsy, rela- 
tives of the deceased have it in their 
power to secure proper respect for the 
dead. We doubt whether a law leaving 
the matter to the discretion of the 
physicians interested in the case would 
be entirely wise. 

Vivisection. 

The Church has not forbidden such 
experiments in vivisection of animals 
as tend directly to the increase of medi- 
cal knowledge and, by consequence, to 
the alleviation of human suffering. On 
the other hand, she has resolutely set 
her face against wanton and useless 
cruelty to brutes. 

A further motive which has guided 
the Church in seeking to keep vivisec- 



tion within due limits is her clear per- 
ception of the next step to be taken by 
those who do not believe in the exist- 
ence of the soul of man, nor rightly 
conceive the dignity of human nature. 
With these persons, vivisection of ani- 
mals would soon lead to the vivisection 
of "useless" human beings. In this 
country the medical profession has not 
dared, openly at least, to claim the 
right of operating upon human beings, 
solely for experimental purposes. In- 
valids, whether sick in mind or broken 
in body, have had a reasonable and 
well-founded assurance that their per- 
sons would be held sacred, that the 
knife would not be used nor drugs 
administered, except for the sole pur- 
pose of restoring them to health, and 
this assurance has been shared by their 
parents and natural guardians. 

Prophecies of St. Malachy and 
Other Irish Saints. 

St. Malachy was Archbishop of 
Armagh, Ireland, in 1148, and he is 
supposed to have left certain prophe- 
cies relative to the sovereign Pontiffs, 
who were to reign from his time to the 
end of world It is said that many 
other Irish Saints left prophecies, not- 
ably among them being St. Patrick, 
St. Bridget, St. Caolin (500), St. 
Caorneach (535), St. Iarlach (538), 
St. Beg Mac De (551), St. Baothin 
(559), St. Dalian Forguil (597), St. 
Bracean (650), St. Fursa (653), St. 
Moling (697), St. Samhtand (734). 
Only small portions of these prophecies 
remain to hand. Fragments are to be 
found in works published by Colgan 



332 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



and 'Kearney, but they are uninter- 
esting and disconnected. 

The prophecies of St. Malachy are 
better known, being revived with the 
death of every Pope in speculation as 
to his successor. It is well to know 
that these were not published or made 
public until four and one half centur- 
ies after St. Malachy 's death, and that 
there are insuperable objections, in- 
ternal and external, to their genuine- 
ness. Competent Catholic authorities 
have examined them thoroughly and 
have come to the conclusion that they 
are a "palpable imposture." 

In these prophecies St. Malachy is 
represented as foretelling, in discrip- 
tion, all the Pontiffs who were to ascend 
the throne of St. Peter from his time up 
to the end of the world. St. Bernard, 
who was the biographer of St. Malachy, 
makes absolutely no mention of any 
such prophecies in the published ver- 
sion of his life. Because of the silence 
of St. Bernard, who could hardly be 
ignorant of the existence of such pro- 
phecies, and for other reasons, besides 
the fact that authorities have found 
them to be impostures, the prophecies 
of St. Malachy are not to be accepted 
for belief. 

Dancing. 

While there is positive Church legis- 
lation upon the subject of dancing, 
which can be best learned from one's 
confessor, let us commend to our 
readers the following passage from the 
eminently sane St. Francis de Sales, 
in the "Introduction to a Devout 
Life." It gives sensible points of view : 

"Dances in their nature are indif- 



ferent things, but as they are but too 
often performed they are very prone to 
become evils. They are full of dangers. 
They are pleasures of the night. But 
in the night and in darkness, evil 
creeps in very easily. The more so in 
an entertainment which, by its very 
nature, inclines to evil. They are pro- 
tracted deep into the nigbt, which 
makes a person unfit to get up early 
and thus robs one of the time to serve 
God. It is, at all times, folly to change 
the day into night, light into darkness, 
good works into play. The partakers 
vie with each other in vanity, and van- 
ity is but too often the proximate par- 
ticipation to evil thought and danger- 
ous spooning. I, therefore, tell thee, re- 
garding dancing, what the physicians 
say about mushrooms. The best of 
them are of no account. The best 
dances are not worth much. But if 
you must eat mushrooms, see to it that 
they be well prepared. If, for some 
reason, you must attend a ball, prepare 
yourself. The preparation should con- 
sist in modesty and good intention. 
Eat mushrooms but rarely, and then 
very little, says the physician. Dance 
little and not often, say I. If you do 
otherwise you are in danger to get a 
liking for the dance. Mushrooms eas- 
ily draw the poison out of the ground 
where they grow. Balls and dances 
have a tendency to attract the vicious 
elements. ' ' 

Twilight Sleep. 

"In my opinion very little can be 
said in favor of Twilight Sleep no mat- 
ter from what point of view, except the 
commercial. ' ' This is the opinion of the 



CHURCH TEACHING MISUNDERSTOOD. §33 



leading obstetricians in America and 
in Germany. It is unscientific and un- 
doubtedly immoral 

The method is now old, as antiquity 
goes in medicine — it was devised in 
1902. In 1903, that is twelve years 
ago, it was tried, found wanting and 
rejected in the universities of Berlin, 
Vienna, Munich, Heidelberg, Harvard, 
Pennsylvania, Johns Hopkins, and in 
the Northwestern, Chicago. Kronig 
and Gauss took it from the attic re- 
cently and gave data to a number of 
female agitators in America who adver- 
tised these two worthies to their heart 's 
content, (and with Kronig 's consent, 
as the editor of McClure's magazine, 
acknowledged to Dr. Tracy of Phila- 
delphia), and the scandal of the entire 
medical profession. Since then twi- 
light sleep has become a fad, especially 
with those ladies who have no babies 
of their own, but who like to descant 
on "sociological problems." Kronig 
came here in November, 1913, to read 
a paper before two American medical 
societies, one of which was the Clinical 
Congress of Surgeons of North Amer- 
ica, and he took advantage of the cour- 
tesy of these societies to exploit the 
proprietary drug narcophin, which he 
uses in his business. He was soundly 
and justly scored by the J ournal of the 
American Medical Association, and the 
American Journal of Obstetrics, as an 
"unethical foreigner." 

Dr. Green, of Harvard; Dr. Wil- 
liams, of Johns Hopkins; Dr. Hirst, 
of Pennsylvania ; Dr. DeLee, of North- 
western, all leading university pro- 
fessors, and special practitioners every- 
where report very unsatisfactory re- 



sults, and, after careful study and ex- 
perience, they have rejected twilight 
sleep as especially dangerous. 

Dr. Joseph Baer, of Chicago, has re- 
ported on sixty cases treated in the 
Michael Beese Maternity Hospital, al- 
most all being unsatisfactory. Cases 
not treated showed far more promis- 
ing results. In all cases treated there 
were signs of extreme restlessness, de- 
lirium amounting even to frenzy, 
which involved strait-jackets and 
shackles. Constant watch must be kept 
on them day and night. And for years 
afterwards, the children withstand the 
action of morphine badly, because that 
drug is the principal ingredient in the 
treatment. The action of the morphine 
is increased and intensified by mix- 
ire with other drugs, and is at once 
carried by the blood to the foetus. 

This is only part of Dr. Baer's ex- 
perience, which may not be printed in 
full, except in a medical journal. It 
is no wonder that there were twenty- 
five suits for malpractice in one Ger- 
man city during July, 1914, as an 
outcome of the twilight sleep craze. 

We know that men who claim they 
have complete success in the treatment 
can not possibly be telling the full 
truth; they have peculiar standards 
of perfection. Baer's amazing recital 
was of a series wherein the smallest 
dose of morphine was used, yet others 
say they had no difficulty, and they 
used twice as much morphine as he 
did. Baer is as skillful as they are, 
and his circumstances were perfect. 

If a physician injects morphine and 
scopolamine to get a twilight sleep, he 
risks the life of the mother somewhat, 



334 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



and the life of the mother somewhat, 
poisoning are reported as a result of 
this method. The twilight sleep 
method, then, when it is not foolish and 
unscientific, is as moral, and "has as 
much to be said in its favor" as has 
shooting a revolver at a target on a 
baby 's head. Fortunately it will die out 
before long just because it is foolish. 
There is a "Painless Labor League" 
gesticulating from the platform, which 
boycotts physicians who, through re- 
spect for their scientific and moral con- 
sciences, refuse to go through the 
"Dammerschlaf " hocus-pocus. Some 
agitators tried to get the method ex- 
hibited in moving pictures for the de- 
lectation of the poor and young, but 
the police stopped its indecency. 

The method cannot be perfected un- 
less someone invents a harmless nar- 
cotic, which is a contradition in itself. 
If enough of the present narcotic we 
have is given, we risk the life of the 
woman, as I said, and we gravely risk 
the life of the child ; if we do not give 
enough to get the desired effect of twi- 
light sleep, why, in the name of com- 
mon sense, meddle with it at all, unless 
we are frank quacks? 

Facts from an article by Dr. Austin 
O'Malley in Eccles. Eeview, 1915. 

Dismas. 

The patron saint of Lent is the Good 
Thief, named Dismas, whom our fore- 
fathers invoked to obtain an increase 
of faith and the grace of a happy death. 
The Koman Martyrology mentions him 
on the 25th of March : "At Jerusalem, 
the commemoration of the Good Thief, 
who from his cross, confessed the divin- 



ity of Jesus Christ, and deserved to 
hear the Savior say to him: 'This 
day thou shalt be with Me in para- 
dise.' " 

In reference to the faith of the Good 
Thief, St. John Chrysostom writes: 
"The faith of Peter was shaken by the 
words of a woman: the faith of the 
Thief defied the insults of a reviling 
multitude. He saw Jesus reputed with 
malefactors, and he adored Him as the 
King of Angels; he saw Him under 
universal approbrium, and he dis- 
cerned His royal glory; he saw Him 
condemned, and he recognized Him as 
his Sovereign; he saw Him on a cross, 
and he invoked Him as if he had seen 
Him on a throne." 

The Militant Catholic. 

There is no one more praiseworthy 
than the militant Catholic, and by this 
we mean the Catholic who is ever ready 
to defend his faith against all comers, 
who has a firm foundation in the truths 
of his religion and who can intelligently 
and without bashfulness give a reason 
for the faith that is in him, says the 
Indiana Catholic. Militant Catholicity 
is especially needed in these days of 
bigotry, when a certain portion of the 
public has been crammed full of un- 
truths against the Church by means 
of the vile newspapers and the despica- 
ble lecturers now before the public. 

But the militant Catholic has a grave 
responsibility resting upon his should- 
ers. He must practice what he 
preaches. As the Notre Dame Scholas- 
tic aptly remarks : "A drunken parish- 
ioner may startle the world with his de- 
fense of Catholicity, but he will do it in 



CHURCH TEACHING MISUNDERSTOOD. 335 



such a way as to hide every good and 
noble quality of that faith." The 
world judges a man by his deeds rather 
than his words. Observation proves 
that many of those fellows who are 
prone to argue religion on every occa- 
sion, and equally prone to knock down 
an opponent if a slighting word is ut- 
tered regarding some point of Catholic 
doctrine, do not practice the faith they 
verbally and physically defend. 

"I am a Catholic and proud of it," 
boasts many a man who is Catholic 
in name only. Those to whom a man 
of this kind addresses himself will 
naturally look upon him as representa- 
tive of all Catholics and immediately 
conclude that Catholicity means noth- 
ing but idle words. ' ' Said the Pieman 
to Simple Simon, 'show me first your 
penny.' " The penny in this case is 
practical religion, and this Simple 
Simon, like the fool of the nursery 
rhyme, hasn't any. He is not a Catho- 
lic, but a giver of scandal. 

Dishonesty. 

There are dishonest people, who will 
not scruple or hesitate to take what 
does not belong to them, whether it 
be large or small. But there are very 
many men and women who are not dis- 
honest, yet have not a deep sense of 
honesty, who would not steal any sum 
or article of value, or retain another's 
property, but who all the same are 
guilty of dishonesty in small matters 
without any qualm of conscience. 

A dealer in New York recently, one 
of the papers told us, took a trial of 
the virtue of his customers and gave 
them an excess of change. To his 



amazement very few were honorable 
enough or honest enough to call his at- 
tention to the fact or to return the ex- 
cess amount. He stated in this con- 
nection that the men showed up bettar 
than the women. How many who read 
this will feel their consciences pricked ? 
We fear only too many people will find 
themselves in the category of those who 
do not hesitate to retain whatever ex- 
cess change may be handed to them in 
stores. They may attempt to justify 
themselves by the consideration that, 
after all, it is the seller's business to 
see that he gives the exact change, and 
that he ought to suffer by his own mis- 
take. That is a way of reasoning that 
is not supported by any rules of logic 
or by any principles of morality. Let 
us suppose that the seller did not give 
enough change; will those people let 
him benefit by his mistake ? We judge 
not ; they would quickly call his atten- 
tion to the fact and demand a recount. 
Why not also demand a recount when 
the mistake is the other way? 

Another time when people fail to be 
honest, and when, therefore, they are 
unjust, is when they dodge in paying 
their carfare. In a crowded ear the con- 
ductor loses sight of them, or some- 
how fails to approach them with "fare, 
please." They sit unconcernedly and 
chuckle to themselves ; this time they 
have got one on the car company. But 
hasn't the car company a right to the 
fare if you get the ride? And if it be 
deprived of the nickel isn't it unjust 
and are we not dishonest? 

Paying Bills. 

In the paying of bills some people 



336 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



seem to have no conscience. In the 
first place, it is dishonest to contract 
a hill when at the time one has no pros- 
pect of being able to pay it. Yet, be- 
cause credit is so easy to obtain they 
do not fail to take adavntage of this 
case and run into debt. It is the dealer, 
tbey say, who should suffer because he 
if so easy a mark, but that does not 
render the act less dishonest when one 
contracts a debt he does not intend 
to pay or has not much hope of paying. 
It is bad enough to contract one such 
debt, but to go on piling up one on 
another in the end amounts to grave 
dishonesty. Yet, these people would 
resent being called dishonest. Mistakes 
often occur, and storekeepers may at 
times forget to charge us with items 
we have procured. Or they may fail to 
send us a bill until in their mind it be- 
comes a matter of doubt if we have 
paid. In these circumstances do we re- 
mind them of the omission and of the 
certainty in our mind that the bill 
was not paid 1 If we do not we are dis- 
honest, no matter how much we may 
pride ourselves on our smartness and 
good fortune. "Owe no man any- 
thing" is an apostolic injunction. They 
who fail are actually dishonest. 

Dishonest Business. 

Many dealers who are reputed to be 
honorable business men and who would 
scorn to do dishonest deeds yet are 
really dishonest in many small ways. 
They will let us buy goods which they 
know to be inferior to what we expect 
to purchase, though we pay the price 
of the better. They will charge very 



much more than the article is worth 
because they think the customer is able 
to pay the price; they do so because 
they are often obliged to charge an- 
other less for the same kind of articles. 
Charges are advanced in some instances 
to make up what is lost on bad ac- 
counts or on the failure to sell enough 
to prevent great deficit at the end of 
the season. Cheating customers or buy- 
ers is not by any means an infrequent 
occurrence. 

Repaying Injuries Done. 

There are a number of other small 
ways of taking what does not belong to 
us or of depriving others of what be- 
longs to them done by people who think 
themselves to be honest. They may be 
honest, but they lack the sense of hon- 
esty. They are not honest through 
and through. They try to reason them- 
selves into just holding on to what they 
may find, though the finding imposes 
the obligation of trying to discover the 
owner. They do not seem to realize the 
injury they do to others when in little 
things they cause deterioration in their 
holdings or destruction to their prop- 
erty. They would not burn down a 
man's house, though they are not slow 
to pull up some flowers out of his gar- 
den or fruit from his trees. And so 
on. It should be important for us all 
to convince ourselves that no matter 
how small the amount we take from 
another or how trifling the injury we 
inflict, it is stealing all the same. And 
to an honest man nothing is trivial or 
trifling. — Right Rev. Msgr. Thomas in 
the Baltimore Catholic Review. 



CHURCH TEACHING MISUNDERSTOOD. 337 



Ordeals. Judgment of God. Duels. 

Ordeals, or as they were termed Judg- 
ments of God, were an ancient means of 
obtaining evidence by trials, through 
which, by the direct interposition of 
God, so it was supposed, the guilt or 
innocence of the accused person was 
established. These trials owed their 
institution to the firm belief that God 
would not permit an innocent person 
to be regarded as guilty and pun- 
ished in consequence, but that He 
would intervene, by a miracle, if nec- 
essary, to proclaim the truth. Various 
nations of antiquity practiced ordeals, 
the Babylonians, the Jews and the 
ancient Germanic people among them. 
Persons accused were submitted to cer- 
tain tests, and the effects established 
the guilt or innocence. The Greeks knew 
the test of holding a red hot iron, which 
was also in vogue among our own In- 
dians. The Jews and Babylonians used 
a water test principally. 

Christian missionaries did not at 
first work to combat these practices, 
opposing only the duel, until the bar- 
barity associated with the ordeals made 
such action necessary. But the main 
idea of the Judgment of God was not 
opposed to religion and, therefore, not 
condemned. More than that, by prayer 
and religious ceremonies, by the hear- 
ing of Mass and' the reception of Holy 
Communion, some missionaries sought 
to give the ordeal a distinctly religious 
aspect. In considering this, one must 
bear in mind the religious ideas of the 
times. The Frankish and Anglo- 
Saxon church authorities were very 
broad-minded in this matter, but it 



must not be forgotten that the Church 
took no action until called upon by the 
spread and development of ordeaLs, 
with the abuses later attached. 

The duel which originated in pagan 
times was always forbidden by the 
Church. Christian nations, so familiar 
with arms, fell into the habit of decid- 
ing disputes in this way, and regular 
codes were adopted governing this 
practice, which endured up to a very 
recent period. But at no time does it 
appear that the Church even tolerated 
dueling. 

One test, in which both parties, the 
accuser and the accused, took part, was 
to stand before a cross with arms out- 
stretched in the form of a cross. Who- 
ever first let fall his arms was de- 
feated. This was tolerated by the 
Church authorities with the hope of re- 
placing the duel. 

The hot iron was employed in vari- 
ous ways, not only in courts of law, but 
elsewhere, where the accused must pass 
through fire, or pass his hand through 
the flames to prove his innocence, was 
common in England, where one test was 
to have the accused walk a space of nine 
feet over hot ploughshares, or bearing 
the hot iron in his hands. Other tests 
in hot or cold water, or with the use 
of bread were also common. A person 
suspected of murder was brought into 
the presence of the body of the mur- 
dered man. If the wounds bled afresh, 
the guilt was supposed to have been 
proved. A popular English writer re- 
fers to this belief in picturing King 
Eichard at the bier of his father, Henry 
II. Then, there was the Eucharistic 
test. The firm belief existed that if 



338 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



anyone, to prove his innocence, should 
receive Holy Communion, he would, 
if guilty, be punished by God with in- 
stant death. Queen Emma, the mother 
of Edward the Confessor, submitted to 
a trial by ordeal in 1048, in the pres- 
ence of her son walking unscathed over 
the hot ploughshares. (L. E. Dobree in 
Am. Eccles. Rev. Aug. 16.) 

Various decrees were promulgated 
by the Popes prohibiting anyone from 
receiving the blessing of the Church 
before submitting to the ordeal. From 
the twelfth century a wide-spread op- 
position to ordeals developed as a result 
of the stand taken by the Popes. A gen- 
eral council of the Church forbade the 
ordeal in 1215, and later in synods. 
The practice gradually died away being 
unknown after the fourteenth or fif- 
teenth centuries. 

Catholics and Thanksgiving Day. 

Thankgiving Day means that the 
American people recognize a guiding 
Divinity, says his Eminence Cardinal 
'Connell, in a press contribution. The 
annual proclamation of a day of 
thanksgiving is the expression of the 
national conciousness that not only as 
individuals but as a people, we are in 
the hands of an all-wise and infinitely 
loving Father, who, whether by mani- 
fold blessings or occasional afflictions, 
is shaping the history of our country in 
such way as may further the benefi- 
cent purposes of His providence. 

Thanksgiving Day is the civil holi- 
day observed in the United States on 
the last Thursday in November. The 
President issues a proclamation calling 
upon all to observe the day as one of 



national thanksgiving and prayer. 
Governors of states concur in this. 
The custom originated in 1621, when 
Governor Bradford of the Plymouth 
colony appointed a day for public 
praise and prayer after the first harv- 
est. President Washington recom- 
mended it in 1789. By 1859 nearly all 
states had recognized the day as an 
established institution. President Lin- 
coln in 1863, President Johnson in 1867 
and President Grant in 1870 selected 
the same day. Since then, there has 
been no change. 

Catholic religious observance is of 
recent date, and is not as yet a general 
custom. Cardinal Farley voiced the 
Catholic attitude, when he said, 
"Thanksgiving Day is one of the evi- 
dences that we are a religious people 
and that we are grateful to Almighty 
God, and, to every one who has any 
sense of religion, it is a most grati- 
fying occasion." 

The origin of Thanksgiving Day is 
traced back to the harvest feasts of 
different nations in ancient times, and 
to the desire in men to give thanks to 
God for bounties received. Generally 
speaking, Thanksgiving Day has little 
religious display, and in its observance 
is confined to family gatherings and 
reunions. 

Co-education. 

Father Vaughan, the noted English 
lecturer, who toured this country re- 
cently, and who has written extensivly 
on educational subjects has this to say 
on the subject of co-education. 

In principle, and from experience 
of what I have seen in the United 



CHURCH TEACHING MISUNDERSTOOD. 339 



States, I am opposed to co-education 
of adolescents. I cannot but think 
that girls suffer in not a few ways from 
the physical and mental strain con- 
sequent upon competition with boys, 
who are rougher spun and of stronger 
fibre than their nature can ever attain. 
But it will be urged that the lads them- 
selves gain immeasurably in refine- 
ment and in discipline by the presence 
in the school-room of the gentler sex. 
It may be that the girls lose as much as 
the boys gain. Besides, is it not de- 
sirable that the training of girls be- 
tween the ages of twelve and eighteen 
should be specialized for their own vo- 
cation in life, whereas the education of 
boys should leave aside "accomplish- 
ments" to grip what is needed for the 
outfit of the engineer, or the trader, or 
the soldier, or any other career that 
befits the male? 

To those who contend that our pres- 
ent school system gives no opportunity 
for training sex emotion, I should like 
to say, ' 1 Thank God for that. " To my 
thinking, neither the school-room nor 
the playground, nor the public street 
is the place in which to cultivate sex 
emotions. Surely young people find 
distractions enough as it is in their 
school course without adding to them 
what might be maddening temptations. 
Those of us who happen at one period 
of our lives to have been boys or girls 
may well feel thankful that we were 
spared the trials to virtue which co- 
education might possibly have strained 
to snapping point. 

In the United States mixed schools 
have not been the success that was 
looked for, and I met, not among Cath- 



olics only, educationists who were 
strongly in favor of returning to our 
time-honoured system, from which 
some modern intellectuals in this coun- 
try would have us break loose. Taking 
human nature as it is, I cannot but 
agree with you, sir, in deeming it un- 
thinkable that co-education can ever 
take the place of our traditional sys- 
tem." (The Times leading article, No- 
vember 4.) 

Legal Status of Parish Schools. 

The attention of the public has been 
called seriously to bigot attacks upon 
parish schools. 

With campaigns against the exist- 
ence af our schools definitely launched 
in 1922, and threatened either before 
or since in other states, the legal aspect 
of the measures which are expected to 
strike a blow at the freedom of educa- 
tion is being discussed in many circles 
here, says the Courier of Winona, 
Minn. 

It is recalled that two years ago the 
attorney-general of Michigan advised 
that the proposed measure was uncon- 
stitutional and that, while the supreme 
court of that state decided later, on 
purely technical grounds, that the 
measure should go on the ballot, Jus- 
tice Fellows, a member of the court, ex- 
pressed an opinion that "the proposed 
amendment is in conflict with the 
fourteenth amendment of the con- 
stitution of the United States," which 
provides : "No state shall make or 
enforce any law which shall abridge 
the privileges or immunities of citizens 
of the United States; nor shall any 
state deprive any person of life, liberty 



340 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



or property without due process of 
law; nor deny to any person within 
its jurisdiction the equal protection of 
the law." 

"While the proposed amendment is 
very carefully worded to attract 
votes," said Justice Fellows, "it takes 
from the parents the privilege of edu- 
cating their children in parochial or 
private schools ; indeed, it takes from 
them the right to exercise any contr:il 
over the education of their own off- 
spring and gives such right to the 
state. It prohibits the conduct of the 
business of educating children by priv- 
ate parties, denominations and cor- 
porations organized for that purpose 
under the laws, and takes from them 
without compensation the right to use 
for educational purposes property 
owned by them and devoted to that use 
admitted to be worth seventy millions 
of dollars. 

"That these schools may be regu- 
lated by the state is admitted on all 
hands, but that their existence may be 
prohibited by state mandate is an 
entirely different proposition. Before 
the business of educating the young 
in the same courses taught by the pub- 



lic schools, before the business of edu- 
cating the young in the Christian reli- 
gion, before the business of conducting 
these parochial schools can be outlawed 
and prohibited, their prohibition must 
bear some reasonable relation to the 
public good, or the public health, or 
the public morals, or the public safety, 
or the public welfare. The right to 
regulate I concede; the right to pro- 
hibit I deny. 

' ' That the right of the state to regu- 
late a business under its police power 
does not carry with it the right to de- 
stroy, the right to prohibit, is illus- 
trated by two cases decided by the 
court of last resort of the nation. 

"I cannot bring myself to believe 
that this court should by the discre- 
tionary writ of mandamus compel the 
secretary of state to submit this amend- 
ment to the people, thus precipitating 
a bitter religious warfare in this com- 
monwealth in which neighbor will be 
arrayed against neighbor, church 
against church, Protestants against 
Catholics ; yes, Protestants against 
Protestants, and where the net result 
can be but a nullity." 



CHAPTER XV. 

Converts to the Church 



Converts in Early Days — Many in Recent Years — Some Prominent Converts — 
Bishops, Converts — Abroad — In Heathen Lands — Converts' Testimony — A Convert's 
League — Sample List of Converts — Great Jewish Converts — Catholic Relatives. 



It is not an easy task to gather 
material on the subject of converts to 
the Church, since the work of conver- 
sion is essentially unobtrusive. Every 
priest devotes a part of his time to 
that work. Missions bring in large 
numbers of converts. Certain reli- 
gious orders which devote themselves 
particularly to this phase of activity 
— the Paulist and the Passionist Fath- 
ers, for instance — are constantly busy, 
with special facilities for advancing 
their efforts. Missions to non-Catho- 
lics are fruitful. Some dioceses have 
a special Mission Band of priests 
regularly engaged in this work. All 
over the country steady progress is re- 
ported, although the results frequent- 
ly remain unpublished. "St. Peter's 
Net" is a publication devoted to this 
work. The editor, D. Scannell 'Neill, 
has devoted his efforts carefully to 
the subject. 

Conversions to the Catholic faith 
during the early part of the century 
were few and isolated instances; but 
within the last fifty years they have 
become more numerous. Speaking on 
this subject, a French writer who vis- 



ited the United States some twenty- 
six years ago, says: "It is difficult 
to apply a statistical table to the 
study of the question of conversions. 
The different Protestant sects fur- 
nish very unequal contingents to the 
little army of souls daily returning to 
the true faith ; and it is a curious fact 
that the two sects which furnish the 
most are the Episcopalians, who, in 
their forms and traditions, approach 
nearest to the Catholic Church, and 
the Unitarians, who go to the very 
opposite extreme, and appear to push 
their philosophical and rationalistic 
principles almost beyond the pale of 
Christianity." 

In some parts of the country there 
are congregations almost altogether 
made up of converts. Converts will 
be found among the bishops, and 
clergy, and a large share of them also 
belongs to the different learned pro- 
fessions. 

In twenty years, closing with the 
last census, the number of Catholics 
in America has more than doubled. 
This increase is, of course, due largely 
to immigration. Still, the growth has 



342 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



been decidedly helped by conversions. 
Men and women of education, broad- 
minded and well-disposed, have been 
attracted to the Faith, have realized 
the Truth and have become members 
of the Church established by Jesus 
Christ. 

To estimate the number of converts 
in America is impossible for the rea- 
sons indicated above ; to enumerate 
them is equally impossible. But there 
is none who will denj r the encourage- 
ment given by such accessions, or the 
zeal displayed by these new followers 
of Christ in our ranks. 

Some Examples. 

The wife of Samuel de Champlain, 
the noted explorer, was perhaps our 
first convert. Other converts are the 
foundress of the first Ursuline con- 
vent in America, New Orleans, 172fi ; 
Mother Seton, foundress of the Sis- 
ters of Charity; Archbishop Bayley 
of Baltimore ; Dr. Ives ; Father Pise ; 
Bishop Young, of Erie, Pa. ; Father Mc- 
Leod of Brooklyn; James A. MeMas- 
ter of the New York Freeman's Jour- 
nal : Orestes A. Brownson, editor and 
author ; Msgr. Doane, Newark, N. J. ; 
Father Isaac Hecker, C. S. P. ; Father 
A. F. Hewit, C. S. P.; Father H. H. 
Wyman, C. S. P. ; Rev. James K. 
Stone, President of Hobart College; 
Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, daughter 
of Nathaniel Hawthorne; Henry C. 
Granger; Henry Harland, novelist; 
F. Marion Crawford, novelist ; Mother 
Katherine Drexel, Philadelphia, foun- 
dress of the order of the Blessed Sac- 
rament; Major Henry F. Brownson; 
Dr. Geo. P. Ball; Father John B. 



Tabb; Rev. G. M. Searle, C. S. P.; 
Father Van Rensselaer, S. J. ; Mrs. 
Molly Elliot Seawell, novelist; Bishop 
Curtis of . Baltimore ; Father Da 
Costa, New T York; Rear Admiral 
Ward, Brooklyn Navy Yard; Alexis 
I. DuPont Coleman, son of an Episco- 
pal Bishop ; Hon. Henry Clay Dillon ; 
Joel Chandler Harris, the author of 
"Uncle Remus;" Calvin Burr; Mrs. 
Fisher ("Christian Reid"), novelist; 
Rev. Daniel E. Hudson, C. S. C. ; 
Charles Warren Stoddard, author; 
William Burden; David Calhoun; 
Prof. Fletcher (all of St. Louis); 
David Goldstein, the noted anti-So- 
cialist lecturer; William H. Sloan; 
Blaine Elkins, son of the Senator 
from Virginia; Rev. Clarence N. 
Woodman, C. S. P.; John Mitchell, 
the labor leader; Mrs. Winthrop 
Chanler; Rev. John E. Copus, S. J.; 
Frank H. Spearman, author; Right 
Rev. Msgr. William E. Starr; Rev. 
John D. Whitney, S. J. ; L. A. Russell, 
Cleveland; Mrs. Robt. McLain, Balti- 
more ; Joyce Kilmer, New York, poet 
and critic. The year 1908 alone 
brought 16 non-Catholic clergymen, 
one from Milwaukee, one from New 
York, eight from Philadelphia, three 
from Chicago, one each from Fond du 
Lac, Reading and Toledo. 

Bishops, Converts. 

The most notable convert in 1919 
was the Right Reverend Frederic 
Kinsman, Bishop of the Episcopal 
Church diocese of Delaware, who 
made his submission through Cardi- 
nal Gibbons. His conversion created 
quite a stir in church circles, recall- 



CONVERTS TO THE CHURCH. 



343 



ing the conversion of Levi Silliman 
Ives, Episcopal Bishop of North Caro- 
lina, in 1852. Dr. Ives' wife, a 
daughter of Bishop Hobart, a Prot- 
estant, also became a Catholic. Dr. 
Ives was for thirty years a minister; 
Dr. Kinsman for twenty-four years. 

Converts Abroad. 

In England, lately, the most no- 
table case has been that of the Episco- 
palian monks at Caldey, in Wales. In 
February, 1912, about thirty Anglican 
monks, following the rule of St. Bene- 
dict, were received into the Church. 
Dom Bede Camm, 0. S. B., was with 
them at the final decision. They and 
their monastery, after certain settle- 
ments, passed over to the Benedictine 
Community. A Community of thirty- 
seven women, following the same rule 
at St. Bride, Milford Haven, were 
received into the Church at the same 
time. This is the direct result of the 
spiritual unrest in England, expressed 
in the Oxford Movement, made fa- 
mous by Cardinals Manning, Newman 
and Wiseman, Father Faber, and a 
host of others. Gordon in his "Con- 
verts to Rome," gives the names and 
residences of 572 converts who were 
clergymen of the Church of England, 
23 of the Church of Scotland, 12 of 
the Church of Ireland, and 12 non- 
conformist ministers. Converts, too, 
are 29 peers and 53 peeresses; 432 
others who are described as members 
of the nobility; 350 more are clergy- 
men's daughters; 269 clergymen's 
sons and 303 clergymen's wives; 360 
are officers in the army and 64 in the 
Royal Navy. Of University Gradu- 



ates, 586 are from Oxford; 346 from 
Cambridge and 63 from Trinity Col- 
lege, Dublin. Of the whole list, 612 
have become priests, 369 secular 
priests and 243 religious. Of these 
last, 109 have become Jesuits. 

Prominent English converts of re- 
cent date are Rev. Robert Hugh Ben- 
son ; Rev. F. Aveling; Rev. T. J. Gir- 
rard ; Miss B. Anderson ; Max Pem- 
berton, the novelist; Rt. Rev. Msgr. 
G. H. Doane ; C. Kegan Paul ; Hon. 
P. H. Burnett; Sir Bertram Windle, 
the scientist ; George Grossmith, actor ; 
Adeline Sergeant, novelist; Cecil 
Chesterton ; Rev. J. E. Copus, S. J. ; 
Rev. R. Garrold, S. J.; Mrs. Hugh 
Fraser; Ellaline Terriss, Sir Roger 
Casement and Gilbert K. Chesterton. 
Seven former Anglican ministers at 
one time made their submission. 

Converts in Heathen Lands — Recent 
Reports. 

The Vicariate- Apostolic of Pekin, 
China, registered in one year (1919), 
35,000 catechumens, being 10,000 more 
than the previous year. Among the 
converts figures a princess of the im- 
perial blood, granddaughter of Em- 
peror Kia-Tsing, sister of Prince 
Kung, the last prime minister of the 
Manchurian dynasty. This noble Chi- 
nese lady was baptized on her death- 
bed in St. Michael's Hospital, where 
she had received instruction from the 
Sisters of Charity. 

Stanton Lawton, writing in The 
New World, says that baptism of 
adult converts to the Catholic Church 
in India and Ceylon, was now taking 
place at the rate of 16,000 a year. 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



The Society of Paris Foreign Mis- 
sions does enormous work. It is in 
charge of 34 dioceses, containing 
1,548,576 Christians, attended by 
1,200 priests and 800 native priests. 
Its baptisms last year numbered 165,- 
000 ; 34 missionary priests and 2 
bishops belonging to it died. 

In every portion of India and Cey- 
lon the Church is now organized, and 
conversions are being made at the 
rate of over sixteen thousand a year. 
This figure applies only to adult bap- 
tisms. 

Converts' Testimony. 

Enemies of the Church have a way 
of alleging that converts to Catho- 
licity come into the Church on a sort 
of emotional wave, and that soon 
after they have been received "they 
recover from this emotional attack; 
and regret the step they have taken." 

There is no need of saying thut 
this allegation lacks a true founda- 
tion. While a few converts may have 
relapsed from the Faith into the un- 
certainty from which they came, their 
number is so small as to be practi- 
cally invisible. On the other hand, it 
js a well-known fact that almost all 
converts are, and remain to the very 
end of their lives, extremely faithful 
and zealous, finding in the Faith a 
joy that never stales or palls upon 
them. By way of evidence thereto, 
are given the following brief extracts 
from declaration of American con- 
verts, printed in Miss Curtis 's "Some 
Roads to Rome in America:" 

"Never, in the twelve years (since 
my reception), have I had a single 



hour of questioning or regret for the 
step which I took that day, or ceased 
to be grateful to God for bearing so 
patiently with my delays and hesita- 
tions and for bringing me home at 
the last." — Alexis I. Dupont Cole- 
man (late Rector of St. Michael's 
Episcopal Church, Wilmington, D. D., 
son of an Episcopal Bishop of Dela- 
ware, author. 

"There has never come to me the 
faintest shadow of a doubt. * * * * 
Credo ! Credo !"— Rev. John E. Copus, 
S. J., author. 

"The spirit of inquiry which made 
me a Catholic has never left me, and 
from that day to this I have been a 
constant reader of the history of re- 
ligion. In the course of this reading, 
I have grown stronger in the Catho- 
lic faith. It has proved, according 
to my lights, to be the one practical 
system of philosophy which gives men 
mental peace, and which has from 
the beginning fed and clothed the 
poor, succored the orphan, taught the 
ignorant, and reformed the sinner." 
— Molly Elliot Seawell, novelist. 
Cardinal Newman. 

Letter from the Very Rev. Dr. 
(afterward His Eminence Cardinal) 
Newman, respecting a remark of the 
Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone. 

In a postscript appended to the 
fourth edition of his "Letter to the 
Duke of Norfolk," issued in April, 
1875, in answer to a remark by 
Mr. Gladstone, Dr. Newman wrote : 
"From the day I became a Catholic 
to this day, now close upon thirty 
years, I have never had a moment's 
misgiving that the Communion of 



CONVERTS TO THE CHURCH. 345 



Rome is that Church which the 
Apostles set up at Pentecost. Nor 
have I ever for a moment hesitated 
in my conviction, since 1845, that it 
was my clear duty to join that 
Church, as I did then join it, which 
in my own conscience I felt to be 
divine." 

Many more such statements could 
be cited. But the few here adduced 
will suffice to show what fills the 
heart and mind of practically every 
convert to the Catholic Church, to- 
wit : gratitude to God for the grace 
of faith and happiness in the practice 
of the one true religion. 

A Converts' League. 

There is a Converts' League in New 
York, which is active and progress- 
ive, with a large membership. An 
interesting story is told in the list 
of names of speakers at a meeting 
held a few years ago, presided over 
by Stuart P. West, President. Among 
them were: Rev. Dr. Sigourney W. 
Fay, former Archbishop of the Epis- 
copal diocese of Pond du Lac; Rev. 
John J. Hughes, C. S. P.; Rev. Henry 
O'Keefe, C. S. P. 

The following list of former Epis- 
copal ministers who have become 
Catholics was presented to the meet- 
ing: Foster Waterman Sterns, for- 
mer rector of Christ Episcopal Church 
at Sheffield, Mass. ; John B. Pitcher, 
former rector of All Saints Episcopal 
Church at Orange, N. J. ; Henry S. 
Dawson, former Episcopal minister 
at New Haven, Conn. ; Rev. Henry 
Sargent, former Superior in the 
Episcopal Order of the Holy Cross; 
Dr. Jesse Albert Lock, W. A. Farmer 



of Georgia; Arthur Augustine Beau- 
mont, and Rev. Paul James Francis, 
S. A., graduate of G. T. S. 

The following former Episcopal 
laymen have become Catholic priests : 
Dr. B. Stuart Chambers, Rev. Henry 
Woods, Rev. James Viet, Rev. Eugene 
0. Wilson, 0. P., Rev. C. J. Lijener- 
antz, and Carl L. Sandri. 

Sample List of Converts. 

In Truth for January, 1915, Scan- 
nell O'Neill has a list which gives the 
names of more than one hundred- 
thirty men and women distinguished 
by social, professional or literary 
standing who were received into the 
Church during the year 1914, and it 
is not claimed that the list is com- 
plete. Among them were twenty 
clergymen, most of them from the 
Anglican Church. Others are Hon. 
Hannis Taylor, A. M., L. L. D., former 
U. S. minister to Spain ; Major-General 
Daniel E. Sickles, U. S. A.; Franz 
Blei, a German author; Lieut-Col. 
Wm. Gerlach; J. W. Barney, former 
editor "Wall Street Journal"; Prof. 
Van Winkle, Princeton University; 
Lieutenant Nolte, St. Louis Police ; Dr. 
Harvey, St. Louis; Princess Rospig- 
liosi of Italy (an American girl) ; Sir 
Wm. H. Newton; Dr. Butterworth, 
South Bend ; Col. Carroll, Memphis ; 
the Duchess of Sutherland; Col. Guinn, 
Milan, Mo. ; Congressman Robert Bren- 
ner, N. J. 

Great Jewish Converts. 

There have been some very great 
churchmen who were of Jewish ex- 
traction. An exchange calls attention 
to the following: 



346 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



A. Drack, called a deep well of 
science, whom Gregory XVI made 
librarian of the Vatican, and whose son, 
a priest, edited an immense work of 
commentaries on Holy Writ ; Father 
Liebermann, founder of the Congrega- 
tion of the Holy Ghost and of the 
Sacred Heart of Mary, who was de- 
clared venerable by Pius IX ; Father 
Hermann Cohen, the great Carmelite, 
who, during the Franco-Prussian war, 
fell a victim to his charity toward 
the French soldiers made prisoners in 
Germany; the Dominican, the Rev. 
Father Levy, who afterwards gave his 
life for the Faith in Mesopotamia; the 
Abbe Olmer, at Paris, whose entire 
family followed his example, two of 
his sisters entering the religious state; 
the pious and eloquent Lehman broth- 
ers, both priests ; the two Abbes Level, 
one of whom was the superior of "St. 
Louis of the French, ' ' at Rome ; the 
famous Father Voit, one of the most 
eloquent preachers in Austria. 

Catholic Relatives. 

In looking over the names of lead- 
ing non-Catholic Americans, it is con- 
soling to a Catholic to find that many 
of them count members of their im- 
mediate family as communicants of 



the Catholic Church. It may prove 

interesting to our readers if we set 
down the names of a few such per- 
sons. 

Here we find the names of the 
wives of Chauncey M. Depew, Dr. 
Nicholas Murray Butler, Henry W. 
Taft (brother of ex-President Taft) ; 
James Blanchard Clews, of the famous 
New York banking house of Clews; 
James J. Hill, the railway magnate ; 
David Bispham, the singer; Owen 
Aldis, Chicago ; August Belmont, Reg- 
inald and William K. Vanderbilt, Jr.; 
William F. McCoombs, Democratic 
leader; Admiral Dewey, William C. 
Endicott, Jr., of Boston ; Joseph Leiter, 
brother of Lady Curzon and the Coun- 
tess of Suffolk ; Col. McCain, Adjutant- 
General, U. S. A. ; Senator Clark, of 
Montana ; Charles Nagel, late of Presi- 
dent Taft's cabinet, and the widows of 
the late Lieutenant-Governor Henry C. 
Corbin, U. S. A.; Charles Emory 
Smith, successively ambassador to Rus- 
sia under President Harrison (1890) 
and Postmaster-General under Presi- 
dents McKinley and Roosevelt, and 
William H. Hunt, ambassador to Rus- 
sia under President Arthur. 

The list could be extended had we 
the time and space at our disposal. 



Bibliography. 

Holiness of the Church in the Nineteenth Century, Kemf; 
Reports of Missionary Societies: Some Roads to Rome, Curtis; 
Back to Holy Church, Von Ruville; Back to Rome. D'Espis: Scan- 
nell O'Neill in Truth, 1915, in Catholic Press; Press statement by 
Molly Elliot Seawell; Catholic Answers, Anstruther. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



The Bible. 

The Old Testament^-The New Testament — Need of the Bible— St. Paul's Epistles 
—Compiling the New Testament— St. Jerome's Translation — The Protestant Bible— 
The Original Books— Dark Ages' Use of Bible — Cost at That Time — Bible in 
English — Editions of the Bible Before Luther— Revision of the Vulgate — Church 
Teaching — Private Interpretation— Tradition — Bible Myths (So-Called) — Story of 
Creation — The Ark — The Serpent — The Deluge — Jonas and the Whale — Characters 
in the Bible — Darwinism — Evolution — Age of the Patriarchs — Descendants of Cain 
—Inspiration of Genesis — Age of the World — The Stone Age — The Cave Man- 
Higher Criticism. 

Bible Brevities, Language of Our Lord, Targums, Pentateuch, Samaritan 
Pentateuch, Septuagint, Judges, Jews, Name of Jesus, St. Paul, Holy Sepulchre, 
The Temple, Handwriting on the Wall, Kings, High Priests, Beelzebub, Gehenna. 



The world owes an immense debt to 
the Church for the gift of the Sacred 
Scriptures and for their preservation 
and spread among the nations. The 
Catholic Church is responsible for the 
Bible. Its production took place di- 
rectly under her supervision. She stood, 
sponsor for the work of collection and 
arrangement, and she preserved it 
through long centuries before any 
other agency even pretended interest 
in it. 

The Bible was written by men, di- 
vinely inspired, we believe. It was not 
written at once, or by one man. Fif- 
teen hundred years elapsed between the 
writing of the first book of the Old 
Testament, Genesis, and the Apoca- 
lypse, the last book of the New Testa- 
ment. The Bible is a collection of dif- 
ferent books by different authors, a 
library, in fact. 



The Old Testament. 

There are forty-six books in the Old 
Testament, written in Hebrew, the 
original language. They are divided 
into three parts : The Law, The Pro- 
phets, The Writings. The first five 
books, written by Moses, constitute the 
Law. This part of the Old Testament 
was placed in the Ark some 3300 years 
ago. Long afterwards, the other two 
parts were added, completing the Old 
Testament as it stands today. At what 
date precisely this was done is not cer- 
tain. Some believe, on the authority of 
Josephus, the famous Jewish historian, 
that it was done under Esdras and 
Nehemiah, a few years before 424 B. C. 
Others contend for a later date, about 
100 B. C. This much appears certain : 
The Old Testament, as we have it to- 
day, existed intact in Hebrew at least 



348 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



one hundred years before the coming 
of Jesus Christ. 

For the benefit of the Jews who were 
scattered in different countries, and 
using the Greek tongue, at that time 
an universal language, a translation of 
the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek 
was made This was begun about 250 
B. C, by seventy men, hence the mean- 
ing of the word, Septuagint, by which 
the translation was known. It was 
from this version, the acknowledged 
Bible of the Jews, that Jesus and His 
Apostles quoted in their teachings. 

Other translations were made later 
for the benefit of Christians, who pre- 
ferred the Bible in their own language. 
The Armenian, Syriac, Coptic, Arabic 
and Ethiopic translations preceded the 
first Latin one, which came about 150 
A. D. Others followed. 

The New Testament. 

The New Testament was not written 
by one man, nor was it written at one 
time. At least forty years passed be- 
tween the writing of the first and of 
the last of its books. It is made up of 
the four Gospels of Sts. Matthew, Mark, 
Luke and John, fourteen Epistles of 
St. Paul, two Epistles of St. Peter, one 
Epistle of St. James, one Epistle of St. 
Jude, three Epistles of St. John, the 
Apocalypse of St. John and the Acts 
of the Apostles by St. Luke. There 
were at least eight different writers and 
in all twenty-seven books. St. Mat- 
thew's Gospel is thought to have been 
the first written, while St. John com- 
posed his nearly half a century later. 

Our Blessed Lord never, so far as we 
know, wrote a line of Scripture. Cer- 



tainly none has been preserved. Ho 
never told His Apostles to write any- 
thing. His command was, "Go ye and 
teach all nations," "Preach the Gospel 
to every creature." And this command 
was fulfilled. Only five of the twelve 
Apostles ever wrote anything, and not 
one of them wrote a line until at least 
ten years after the death of their Di- 
vine Master. Yet thousands of people 
were converted by them. 

Therefore, the Church existed before 
the Bible. When the Apostles met, be- 
fore dispersing into the different parts 
of the world allotted to each for his 
work, their composition was the 
Apostles' Creed. Later, various em- 
ergencies arose and special circum- 
stances called for the various writings 
of the New Testament. But nothing 
was farther from the minds of the 
writers, and of the Apostles generally, 
than that these writings be gathered 
together and made up into a book, 
which would be accepted as a complete 
statement of the doctrines of Christian- 
ity. Any one of them would have been 
shocked had he known that his letters 
would in time be made use of by heret- 
ics in the attempt of usurping the 
place of the authoritative teacher, the 
Church of Jesus Christ. That com- 
positions intended to meet certain lo- 
cal circumstances should be accepted 
everywhere as an infallible guide in 
faith and morals independent of any 
authority to interpret them, is dis- 
tinctly wrong. 

Need of the Bible. 

So long as the Apostles lived there 
was no need of a written record of the 



THE BIBLE. 



349 



teachings of Jesus Christ. As the end 
of their natural lives approached, it 
became expedient that some authorita- 
tive, reliable account of our Lord's life 
and teaching be written by those who 
knew Him personally, or were at least 
able to give at first hand uncorrupted 
information concerning Him. This was 
all the more necessary, because His en- 
emies were even then circulating false 
reports and spurious writings concern- 
ing Him. St. Luke clearly stated this 
as his reason for writing. The others 
wrote for the same reason, one supply- 
ing what another omitted, each from 
his own recollection, and in his own 
way, yet none claiming to give a com- 
plete or perfect account of all that 
Jesus said and did. St. John says "the 
whole world could not have contained 
the books that could be written con- 
cerning Him." He admits that only 
the most important things are recorded. 
This fact was known when the Gospels 
were read to the early Christians, not 
as a systematic plan of His doctrines, 
but to excite their love and devotion 
toward Him. 

St. Paul's Epistles. 

St. Paul was an Apostle and held 
as inspired in his writings. His let- 
ters contain the Written Words of God, 
and are a final authority on the various 
points of which they treat, if properly 
understood. They do not claim to con- 
tain the whole Truth, nor to be a com- 
plete guide to salvation. St. Paul was 
a Bishop. He wrote to his people from 
time to time as emergencies arose, just 
as a Bishop of today sends his Pastoral 
letters to be read in the parish church. 



But all that is claimed for them is that 
they contain the teaching of the 
Church on the subjects treated. What 
St. Paul taught was the belief of the 
Church for nearly twenty years before 
be wrote anything. His Epistles date 
from 52 A. D. to 68 A. D. 

Compiling of the New Testament. 

For nearly three hundred years the 
writings of the New Testament were 
not collected. They did not, at this 
time, exist in one volume. The Council 
of Carthage, in 307 A. D., settled the 
collection of New Testament Scrip- 
tures. Constantine mentioned this col- 
lection in 332. Previous to this time, 
there were many works in circulation 
reputed to be inspired, and there was 
some doubt about what should be ac- 
cepted. The approval of the Church 
confirmed this action of the Council of 
Carthage, and the books rejected as 
spurious, now known as " Apocrypha, ' * 
were consigned to oblivion. Rome had 
spoken. Councils at Hippo and Carth- 
age in the fourth century, Florence in 
the fifteenth, Trent in the sixteenth, 
and the Vatican in the nineteenth have 
renewed anathemas against those who 
deny this collection of books to be the 
inspired word of God. 

There remained, however, attention 
to accuracy of translation from the 
original manuscripts. This work was 
entrusted by the Church to St. Jerome, 
the greatest Bible scholar the world 
has known. With a staff of helpers 
the work was done by him from the 
years 383 to 404 A. D. His research 
included both testaments. 

He took the Old Testament directly 



350 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



from the original Hebrew, and the New- 
Testament from the original Greek. 
This was the celebrated Vulgate, the 
official text of the Catholic Church, 
recognized by the Council of Trent as 
the only authoritative version of the 
Scriptures. Pope Sixtus, in 1590, and 
Pope Clement in 1593, revised minor 
parts, but from the date 404 A. D. it 
stands untouched, except for the minor 
revisions just mentioned. From it 
comes the authoritative translation in- 
to English, known as the "Douai" 
Bible. 

The Protestant Bible. 

The Church of St. Paul, St. Peter and 
St. John in the first century, are, we 
have seen, in harmony with the Church 
of the Fathers assembled at Carthage 
in the fourth, at Florence in the fif- 
teenth, and at the Vatican in the nine- 
teenth century. The Church estab- 
lished by Jesus Christ, which made the 
Bible, can alone tell us the meaning 
of its passages It is her work: she 
preserved and guarded it. Yet 1,500 
years after Christ, Protestants step in, 
and declare the Bible to be theirs, and 
allege that they alone know its mean- 
ing. They claim it as the rule of faith, 
intended by God to be so used. They 
claim also the right to reject parts of 
it. They do not take it all. Some of it 
they throw out, and the rest they muti- 
late and word to suit their new teach- 
ing. 

Seven complete books were so re- 
jected, the bocks of Tobias, Baruch, 
Judith, "Wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, first 
and second Maccabees, seven chapters 
of the Book of Esther, and sixty-six 



verses of the Book of Daniel, chapter 
cxi. Luther would have rejected St. 
James, St. Jude and St. John and parts 
of St. Paul's Epistles also, had he not 
been prevented. The principle of priv- 
ate judgment, of picking and choosing 
religious doctrines, is here illustrated. 
Only that was taken and used by him 
which harmonized with his ideas of 
teaching. Yet the reformers were 
bound to accept from the Church what 
is embodied in their version of the 
Bible. They had no other sources of 
information. 

The Original Books. 

Before the invention of printing in 
1450, the Bible existed only in hand- 
writing. The original books have, of 
course, disappeared. But there are ex- 
isting manuscripts which were made 
in the fourth century, accessible today 
as proofs that the Catholic Bible is a 
genuine reproduction of the Bible as 
known and received at that time. 

To account for the disappearance of 
the original writings of the New Testa- 
ment, one need only refer to the perse- 
cutions of Christianity, and the devasta- 
tion wrought by Pagan invaders, who 
burned and destroyed all the sacred 
things they could find. The material 
used in the manuscripts could not last 
long, either. Papyrus was the univer- 
sal writing material, in the days of 
antiquity — a very delicate texture 
quite inferior in lasting quality even 
to cheap paper of our present manu- 
facture. Everything written on pa- 
pyrus, which is a vegetable substance, 
decayed in course of time. Besides, 
the writing was very tedious and slow, 



THE BIBLE. 



351 



and, therefore, a labor of love, only to 
be undertaken by one deeply inter- 
ested. The monks are chiefly credited 
with such reproductions of manuscripts 
of the Bible. About three thousand of 
these exist today, the vast majority 
known to have been written subsequent 
to the fourth century. They may be 
seen in any of the large libraries and 
museums of Europe and America, par- 
ticularly in the noted collections of the 
Vatican in Rome. 

"The Dark Ages"— Use of the Bible. 

The oft-repeated charge against the 
Church — that it kept the people in 
ignorance during what is called the 
"Dark Ages," is the basest of calum- 
nies, is absolutely without foundation. 
The "Dark Ages" were really ages of 
light. The ages which built the gorge- 
ous cathedrals and monasteries still 
standing in Europe had a glorious 
knowledge of architecture. The ages 
which claim St. Thomas Aquinas, St. 
Bonaventure and other teachers who 
taught in monastic schools and uni- 
versities scattered in every country, 
were certainly not dark intellectually. 
The ages which produced St. Dominic, 
St. Bernard, St. Francis, and their 
followers, who instructed and helped 
poor humanity in every way, were 
undoubtedly not dark morally. 

It is easy to say today that men 
were ignorant at that time, yet the 
monks gave practical training in the 
methods of living, and they taught the 
knowledge of God — surely the best 
knowledge that could be given. Print- 
ing was not invented then, and reading 
and writing, therefore, were not com- 



mon, because of the expense attached 
to manuscripts and the difficulty in 
producing them. Yet every monastery 
had its library and its school. The 
monks were the teachers, as they were 
the writers, reproducing manuscripts 
as their life 's work. And every monas- 
tery and Church had its Bible, easily 
accessible to everyone. Parts of the 
Bible were written, the New Testament 
or the Gospels, that people might pos- 
sess that much at least, if they could 
not afford the cost of an entire work. 

The Cost of a Bible. 

Dr. Maitland believes that it would 
take ten months for a writer of those 
days to copy a Bible, and that it would 
cost three or four hundred dollars at the 
rate at which law stationers pay their 
writers today. This does not include 
the cost of materials. Another author- 
ity reckons that 427 skins of parchment 
would be necessary and that the total 
cost of a Bible would, therefore, be 
about one thousand dollars. With the 
monks it was, of course, labor of love. 
Nevertheless, the Bible in those days 
was a costly book. 

The Bible in English. 

During the earlier part of the so- 
called "Dark Ages," the Bible was in 
the Latin language, because Latin was 
the universal tongue among those who 
could read. It was the scholastic 
language throughout Europe. Those 
who could not read Latin, could not 
read at all. And when this condition 
changed, translations of the Bible 
were made. Caldmon, a monk in Eng- 
land in 680, and Venerable Bede in 



S52 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



735, translated the Bible into English 
(or rather the Saxon tongue). Alfred 
the Great, of England, was translating 
it when he died, 870. Blessed Thomas 
More, chancellor of England under 
Henry VIII, says, in 1535, "the whole 
Bible, long before Wyclif's day, was 
by virtuous and well learned men 
translated into the English tongue, 
and by good people with devotion well 
and reverently read." Wyclif lived 
about 1400, was the head of the Lollard 
sect, and claimed to have made the 
first translation of the Bible into Eng- 
lish. The Douai Bible in English dates 
from 1609. 

Editions of the Bible Before Luther. 

Since Luther claimed to have dis- 
covered the Bible stating that the 
Church kept the Bible from the people, 
consider the following facts : 

Luther's first Protestant Bible ap- 
peared in 1520. There were 104 edi- 
tions published by the Church in Latin 
before that date; nine were published 
in German before Luther was born, and 
27 before the date of his Bible. In 
Italy forty editions were published, 
twenty-five of them in Italian, before 
Luther's day. There were eighteen 
translations in France before 1547. The 
first books ever printed by inventor of 
printing, Guttenberg, was a Catholic 
Bible issued in 1456. 

Revision of the Vulgate. 

A commission has been selected by 
Pope Pius X, to revise the Vulgate. 
Abbot Gasquet, (now Cardinal) a 
brilliant scholar, member of the Bene- 
dictine order, is chairman. The Com- 



mission's work is to study the ancient 
manuscripts now in existence, to re- 
view the nearest to the originals, in 
order to discover and correct possible 
mistakes in the present day editions. 
The Catholic Church always has exer- 
cised great care in such matters, being 
willing to labor hard and long, and to 
incur great expense, in order to insure 
accuracy and give to the people a pure 
translation. 

Attitude of the Church. 

The Church teaches her children to 
revere the Bible, properly explained, 
it is the word of God. It is on sale in 
any book store. Catholics are exhorted 
to read it. The very first act of Pope 
Benedict on ascending the chair of St. 
Peter was to urge on Catholics the 
daily reading of the Holy Scriptures. 
Catholics know the Bible better than 
their non-Catholic neighbors because 
Catholics every Sunday hear it read 
and explained from the pulpit. No 
other subject but the word of God may 
be preached in a Catholic Church. 
Catholics are urged, moreover, to have 
a copy of the Bible in their homes. 
That is often a Catholic's best refuta- 
tion to the calumny that he may not 
read the Holy Scriptures. 

Private Interpretation. 

Difficulties of private interpreta- 
tion were well explained by Father G. 
Bampfield, B. A., Oxon, in St. An- 
drew's Magazine, some years ago. 

I was a young man when my enquiry 
into truth began. I wished to save my 
soul — to know the truth and do the 
right ; I asked myself and others how I 



THE BIBLE. 



353 



was to find the truth ; the answer was 
ever the same; "Search the Scrip- 
tures. ' ' But here came a difficulty. 

I knew that the Scriptures were the 
word of God — but I knew also that 
God's writings are then only of use to 
us when we know what God meant by 
that which He wrote. God's Word, if 
we put to it the devil's meaning, or 
man's meaning, is not God's Word at 
all. What we need is God's meaning 
of God's Word. The same Holy Ghost 
who wrote the Scriptures, He only can 
interpret them." 

Father Bampfield then became 
convinced that the Church which ex- 
isted before the Bible, to which Jesus 
gave power to teach, which carefully 
preserved the Bible through the ages, 
was the sole interpreter of the Bible. 
The Holy Ghost had promised to be 
with the Church all days. He then 
turned to the teaching authority of 
the Church gladly, because he saw 
that those who condemned our Lord 
were the pharisee, the scribe, the law- 
yer, who may be presumed to know 
Sacred Writ as far as their own study 
could lead them. Their interpretation 
misled them. 

Nay, he continues, the Scriptures 
themselves told me plainly, "that no 
prophecy of the Scripture is made by 
private interpretation." (II Peter i, 
20.) And, again, that in St. Paul's 
Epistles, at least, there "are certain 
things hard to be understood, which 
the unlearned and unstable wrest, as 
they do also the other Scriptures, to 
their destruction." (II Peter iii, 16.) 
The Scriptures, then, can be used to 
our destruction, and who was I that I 



should think myself learned enough to 
avoid that disaster" 

Tradition. 

Tradition means the handing down 
of something. In its widest sense it 
includes all truths or supposed truths 
handed down from one generation to 
another. In all societies which have no 
literature, tradition, imperfect as it is, 
or may be, remains the bond between 
the present and the past. 

Within the Church tradition is ac- 
cepted because it cannot be set aside. 
Christ wrote no books. There was noth- 
ing but tradition to guide the Church 
in the early centuries. St. Paul insists 
upon the necessity of holding to the 
Christian traditions (I Cor. xi, 2; II 
Thess. xv). Even when the Scriptures 
of the New Testament were written tra- 
dition was not dropped, because the 
early Christians were well aware that it 
was tradition which settled the canon 
of Scripture. They were not unreason 
able enough to reject tradition for 
Scripture, because the authority of 
Scripture was based on tradition. 

Many converts came to the Faith 
where it was impossible to learn the 
truth from Scripture. And while or- 
dinary tradition is by its very nature 
shifting and uncertain, the Holy Ghost 
preserved the tradition of truth in the 
Church More than that Scripture is a 
collection of books which never pro- 
fesses to contain the sum of Christian 
truth. In the face of such arguments 
the appeal of the Fathers of the Church 
to hold tradition inviolable as one of 
the guides of truth becomes quite in- 
telligible. Irenaeous and Tertullian 



354 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



were strongly in favor of this. St. Gre- 
gory, St. Basil, and St. Chrysostom in 
later years were of the same opinion. 

The Council of Trent declares truth 
to be partly in Scripture, partly in un- 
written tradition received by the Apos- 
tles from Christ or from the Holy 
Ghost, and entrusted by them to the 
Church. Further the Council states 
(Sess. IV de Can Scrip.) that "Scrip- 
ture and tradition, the latter, of course, 
only when proved apostolic, are to be 

Bible Myths 

It has long been one of the favorite 
practices of sceptics and enemies of 
Christianity, to single out for attack 
what they are pleased to call "Bible 
Myths." Under this term they par- 
ticularly class the Bible account of the 
Creation (Genesis), the serpent's part 
in the fall of man, and the Deluge. 

Wherefore, it seems right that every 
Catholic should be acquainted with 
Holy Church's interpretation of the 
Scriptural meaning on these points, 
should know as exactly as possible 
what his religion bids him believe. 

Anything like a thoughtful consider- 
ation of the interpretation which bears 
the authority of the Church of God 
will show the Catholic, and the fair- 
minded non-Catholic as well, that there 
exists between the Bible and modern 
science no conflict whatever, that 
science walks hand in hand with the 
one true Faith. 

The Account of Creation. 

Beginning with the Bible account of 
the Creation, the world is said in the 



reverenced alike." "Catholic contro- 
versialists, while insisting that they 
need not prove their doctrine from 
Scripture always do so prove it," is 
Cardinal Newman's contribution on 
the question. Further, all points of 
Catholic doctrine usually can be 
proved by both Scripture and tradi- 
tion. Needless to say, the decree quoted 
above of the Council of Trent suf- 
ficiently explains Catholic attitude. 

— So-Called 

first chapter of Genesis to have been 
created in six days. Hebrew was the 
language in which the Old Testament 
was originally written, and the He- 
brew word for day (yom) means not 
only a day, but also a period or epoch. 
Hebrew was a language of few words, 
comparatively speaking, and some of 
these words served for more than one 
meaning. For instance, the Hebrew 
word for "brother" was used also for 
"tribesman," "cousin," and "distant 
relative." Thus the word for "day" 
signified a division of time, rather 
than merely a day of twenty-four 
hours, a division which might repre- 
sent as much as many years or even 
centuries. Therefore, when Genesis 
declares the world to have been created 
in six days, we are required to believe 
that the world was created in six di- 
visions of time, the lengths of which 
are not stated. Thus, our Bible is in 
exact concord with the teachings of 
science. Geology and biology are com- 
pletely agreed that the formation of 
the earth took place in six periods. 



THE BIBLE. 



355 



The Serpent and the Devil. 

When tempted to criticise the Bible 
narration of any feature of the story 
of Creation, we must remember always 
that our limited ideas, the ideas of a 
creature, cannot set up a standard of 
procedure and accomplishment for the 
Creator, the infinite and omnipotent 
God. Without some such constant con- 
sciousness we are not fit to think upon 
the subject. For we overrate ourselves 
in the extreme when we seek, with our 
restricted faculties, even to penetrate, 
much less to criticise, the ways and 
methods of the Creator. Consequently, 
an absolute, detailed and complete ex- 
planation of the Creator's miraculous 
plans cannot but be impossible. God's 
doings are bound to be mysterious in 
many particulars. 

Yet, it is possible, in full accord with 
the findings of the Church, to explain 
the Evil One's assumption of the form 
of the serpent for the purpose of bring- 
ing about the fall of man. First, it was 
the only way in which the temptor 
could reach uneorrupted man It was 
an appeal to man's physical nature, 
not immeasureably different from ani- 
mal nature. Then, such an appeal 
could best be made by, not a purely 
spiritual being, but by one in the shape 
of an animal ; and of all animals the 
serpent is credited as being the most 
subtle And leaving aside the argument 
some use, that woman, being weaker 
than man, was necessarily the one first 
approached, it is held to be a fact that 
man would yield more easily to his 
companion's influence, if she could be 



won over to the temptation at first 
hand. 

The Deluge. 

The Bible is not alone in giving ac- 
count of the great flood or deluge. Ac- 
cording to an article contributed by the 
Rev. A. J. Maas, S. J., to the Catholic 
Encyclopedia, "the historicity of the 
biblical flood is confirmed by tradition 
existing in all places as to the occur- 
rence of a similar catastrophe. F. Von 
Schwartz enumerates sixty-three such 
flood stories, which are, in his opinion, 
independent of the Chaldaic and He- 
brew traditions. Moreover, these stories 
extend through all the races of the 
earth except the African : this race is 
excepted, not because it is certain that 
they do not possess any flood traditions, 
but because their traditions have not 
as yet been sufficiently investigated. 
Lenormant pronounces the flood story 
the most universal tradition in the his- 
tory of primitive man, and Franz De- 
litzsch was of the opinion that we might 
as well consider the history of Alexan- 
der the Great a myth, as call the Flood 
tradition a fable" 

Jonas and the Whale. 

To discredit the Bible story of Jonas 
and the whale, it has been argued that 
science proves the whale's mouth, 
throat and stomach to be so constituted 
as to make the swallowing of a man by 
a whale an impossibility in nature. 
Granting this to be true, and leaving 
out of the question the fact that God 
can suspend the laws of nature when- 
ever He chooses, the argument in this 
case falls to the ground for the simple 
reason that the Hebrew word transla- 



356 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



ted as "whale" does not mean what 
the word presents to our minds, but 
rather "monster," or "gigantic crea- 
ture," and there is no doubt but that 
creatures of sufficient size as to make 
this story feasible have had real exist- 
ence in the world. 

Definite mention of it occurred in 
America in 1828 ; further information 
was gained in 1858 and in 1870. Since 
1883 several whale-sharks have been 
captured. That killed by Captain 
Thompson with the aid of some fisher- 
men, in 1912, was exhibited at Miami 
and its skin was later carefully 
mounted for more extensive exhibition. 

The specimen taken by Captain 
Thompson is about forty-five feet long 
and the girth about eighteen feet. The 
mouth is so large that a man could 
crouch within it easily, and the throat 
was said to have been fully large 
enough to permit the passing of a man 
of ordinary size. The fact that there 
is a fish big enough to have swallowed 
a man makes foolish the argument of 
those who questioned the story of 
Jonas. 

The Ark. 

Modern sceptics attempt to show 
from the figures given as to the size of 
the Ark, that it would have been impos 
sible to house within it the animals 
enumerated in the Mosaic narrative of 
the Deluge. According to Josephus, 
the great historian of the Jewish peo- 
ple, the dimensions of the Ark were 
300 cubits long, 50 in breadth and 30 
in height. Now a cubit measures, ac- 
cording to our standard, about 21 



inches. This would make the Ark, in 
round figures, 525 feet long, 88 feet 
wide and 52% feet high, about the 
average size of a present day ocean 
liner. Present day ship owners allow 
about 40 cubic feet of space to a ton 
of freight in storage, that is general 
merchandise. That would give the Ark 
a cubic measurement of 2,375,100 feet, 
and a displacement of 59,377 tons. As 
the vessel had no superstructure, that 
is deck houses or bridges, and cannot 
be supposed to have had to allow space 
for any purpose such as we must figure 
on today, engines, etc., these measure- 
ments do not exaggerate the Ark's 
carrying capacity. The description of 
Josephus says that the Ark was built 
up to the top, that she had no masts, 
and was roofed in to keep out the 
waters of the Deluge One writer on 
the subject, using these measurements, 
supposes that Noah divided the vessel 
into separate compartments, bulk- 
headed, and figures that 2,375 of these 
could have been built, size ten by ten 
by ten feet. This was to keep the dis- 
tinctive species of his charge separate, 
and in order. 

Many figure experts have compiled 
interesting statistics to show what 
might have been done with a structure 
of this size. But it is sufficient to know 
that even from a modern point of view 
the Ark had ample capacity for the 
purpose intended by Divine Provi- 
dence. In this, as in other things, the 
Mosaic narrative will stand the tests of 
the investigator. 

Father Hill, in the Catholic's Ready 
Answer, suggests that one must be- 
lieve that all human beings but Noah 



THE BIBLE. 



357 



and his family were destroyed in the 
Deluge but that we can still believe 
that many species of animals were not 
touched by the flood. Noah's task of 
collecting and housing specimens of 
each species may have been a compara- 
tively easy one. 

Characters of the Bible. 

Not a few would-be critics of the 
Bible have raised the point that some of 
the Old Testament personages, who are 
represented there as being very dear 
to Almighty God, have led doubtful 
and evil lives. 

The charge is untrue in the main. 
For the personages selected by the 
critics to prove their charges, such as 
Abraham, Jacob and David for in- 
stance, did not lead evil lives, though 
they may have been guilty of faults 
and even sins. We say "may have been 
guilty of faults and sins," because 
their alleged trespasses against right- 
eousness do not seem to be sinful at all 
in most instances. By way of example, 
Abraham's declaration that his wife 
Sara was his sister, when he and she 
ran the risk of falling into the hands of 
the king of Egypt, does not stamp him 
as a liar for the reason that the Hebrew 
word for "sister" has a wider mean- 
ing and stands also for "tribeswoman" 
as well. Again in the case of Jacob, 
when he impersonated his brother 
Esau to obtain his father's blessing, 
the idea of deceit may have been con- 
siderably mitigated by his knowledge, 
through his mother, that by God's will 
he was destined, rather than Esau, to 
carry on the chosen race. Genesis xxv, 



23, tells us that his mother had a fore- 
knowledge of this fact 

As to David, it is true that he sinned 
grieveously, when he had risen to royal 
power, but it cannot be denied that his 
repentance was great and sincere 

Generally speaking, the Biblical per- 
sonages who are described as favorites 
of God, were good and did good, in 
spite of the weaknesses and sins that 
may have appeared in their lives. In 
other words, the good in them and the 
good done by them incomparably out- 
weighed whatever wrong may appear 
in their actions And they were special 
objects of God's care, because they 
were destined to carry on God' works, 
and did carry it on mightily with 
strong faith and purpose 

Darwinism — Evolution 

The English scientist, who is gen- 
erally considered responsible for the 
theory of "natural selection," Charles 
Robert Darwin, born in Shrewsbury, in 
1839, published conjointly with Alfred 
Russell Wallace, in 1858, and in 1859 
made public his work entitled, "The 
Origin of Species, ' ' which put forward 
natural selection as the principal or 
dominant factor in the evolution of 
species. 

Before Darwin's time, there had 
been glimpses of the evolutionary the- 
ory regarding the origin of species, in 
the works of Buffon and several other 
scientists. Lamarck in the eighteenth 
century may justly be described as 
the originator of evolutionary science, 
as the term is understood in modern 
times, and in so far as his reasoning \n 
the subject was based on scientific in- 



358 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



vestigation. He dwelt at length on the 
effectiveness of environment in modify- 
ing, developing, or doing away with 
certain habits and qualities, and even 
organs, of animals and plants ; and he 
argued that such changes, wrought by 
environment, were then perpetuated 
by heredity. 

Now, Darwin's theory, the law of 
natural selection, was suggested to him 
by the process of artifical selection in 
use among gardeners and breeders of 
stock. Artificial selection is the method 
taken by a gardener who, for instance, 
desires to develop a variety of rose 
possessing some particular quality, 
such as, let us say, an especially dark 
red hue. To effect the variety in ques- 
tion, the gardener will select for plant- 
ing the best seeds from individual 
dark red roses, exceptionally dark 
though grown on a bush nearly all of 
whose flowers are of a lighter red. By 
acting on this method during a number 
of rose-generations, the gardener will 
eventually bring what may be called 
a new dark-red variety into permanent 
existence. 

Darwin's law of natural selection 
means that nature somehow took the 
part of the gardener, or the stock- 
breeder, and developed certain peculi- 
arities in plants and animals, until, in 
the course of many years, new varieties 
and new species were the result. And 
the reason which Darwin assigned for 
the operation of this law of natural se- 
lection was "the struggle for life" with 
"the survival of the fittest." 

According to Darwin, man is only a 
higher type of animal, evolved from 
the lower species through the ape, by 



means of natural selection, and its call 
for the survival of the fittest. Imme- 
diately after its promulgation, the Dar- 
winian theory of evolution was enthusi- 
astically accepted by the younger 
scientists, and for some years it held 
the center of the biological stage. But 
its supremacy did not endure. To quote 
Edward von Hartman: "In the 
eighties, Darwin's influence was at its 
height, and exercised an almost com- 
plete control over technical researches. 
In the nineties, a few timid expressions 
of doubt and of opposition were 
heard, and these gradually swelled into 
a great chorus of voices aiming at the 
overthrow of the Darwinian theory. In 
the first decade of the twentieth cen- 
tury, it has become apparent that the 
days of Darwinism are numbered." 

Evolution. 

May a Catholic believe in Evolution, 
and if so, to what extent? 

The answer to this question is that a 
Catholic may believe in the evolution of 
species, in so far as the evolutionary 
theory does not come into conflict with 
revealed religion, that is with Catho- 
lic Truth and teaching. Of course, a 
Catholic could not possibly believe in 
any theory of evolution which denied 
the world's creation by the Supreme 
Being, God, in six days. But, a Catho- 
lic may well believe as has shown under 
"Bible Myths," that those six days 
stood not for days of twenty-four hours 
each, but for six periods of indefinite 
time. 

Equally, of course, a Catholic cannot 
possibly believe that man, soul as well 
as body, is descended from an ape, 



THE BIBLE. 



359 



since we are taught expressly that 
man's soul comes from God directly 
into union with his body. He must be- 
lieve the inspired words of Genesis that 
"the Lord God formed man from the 
slime of the earth, ' ' in regard to man 's 
body. But, according to some Catholic 
authorities, it is not contrary to Chris- 
tian doctrine to hold that the first 
man's body may have undergone a 
number of preliminary changes from 
inorganic to vegetable life, and from 
vegetable to animal life. What the 
Catholic must not doubt is that man's 
soul has never been subject to any pro- 
cess of evolution, the soul being of 
God and from God, absolutely 

Recurring to the Darwinian theory 
of man's descent from the ape, the at- 
titude of modern science toward that 
theory is clearly expressed by the pre- 
eminent scientist Virchow, who is not 
a Catholic, by the way, in his ' ' Liberty 
of Science:" 'If we make a study of 
the fossil man of the quaternary period 
.... we find at every turn that he is a 
man like ourselves. . . .we must can- 
didly acknowledge that we possess no 
fossil types of imperfectly developed 
men ... .no skull of ape or ape-man 
which could have had a human posses- 
sor . . . has ever been found . . . 
we cannot teach, nor can we regard as 
one of the results of scientific research, 
the doctrine that man is descended 
from the ape or from any other ani- 
mal." And the same universally ac- 
knowledged authority in science says 
elsewhere: "We have sought in vain 
the missing links that are supposed to 

connect man with the ape At 

the present hour we can say that the 



fossil men discovered stand as far re- 
moved from the ape as ourselves." 

Another distinguished scientist, Dr. 
Burmueller, declares, "On no recog- 
nized principle of classification can 
man be associated with the ape ; for, to 
say nothing of his gifts of understand- 
ing and speech, he stands quite alone 
by reason of the vastly superior devel- 
opment of the brain portion of his 
nervous system, and hence can lay 
claim to an independent position in 
the animal kingdom Neither is his 
descent from the ape attested by 
science, since no connecting link has 
been discovered Even the possi- 
bility of a connecting link is disproved 
by the tendency of apes and half-apes, 
in the course of their higher develop- 
ment in anatomical structure, to di- 
verge more and more from the human 

type Such is the present state 

of scientific investigation. 

Age of the Patriarchs. 

The earlier patriarchs are those who 
lived before the flood, and those who 
lived between that event and the birth 
of Abraham. In the cases of some of 
them, a difficulty is presented in their 
extraordinary longevity. Some critics 
find this hard to believe. But there are 
many things in the Bible that are, hu- 
manly speaking, hard to believe. As 
regards this particular matter, we may 
say with the Speakers' Commentary, 
that "the difference between the age of 
man at the beginning and the age of 
man at the present day may be due to 
some cause which it is no more possible 
to reach than the cause of life itself." 
It has been well observed by Delitzsch, 



360 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



"We must consider that all the old- 
world population was descended from 
a nature originally immortal, and that 
the climate, weather, and other natural 
conditions were very different from 
those which succeeded, that the life was 
very simple and even in its course, and 
that the after-working of the para- 
disiacal state was not at once lost in 
the track of antiquity." It is true, of 
course, that the longevity attributed to 
the ancient patriarchs could have been 
attained only under conditions alto- 
gether different from those at present 
existing, but there can be no doubt that 
favorable conditions did exist at that 
time. 

Descendants of Cain. 

Of the children of Adam, the Bible 
names only three : Cain, Abel and Seth. 
Genesis gives, in the fourth chapter, 
an account of how Cain slew Abel and 
a short account of Cain's after life. 
In the fifth chapter, the generations of 
Adam are considered. None of the 
descendants of Cain are among those 
spoken of as early patriarchs, "for 
neither Jews nor Christians reckon as 
patriarchs, Cain and his descendants. 
The descendants of Cain are enumer- 
ated for several generations, but there 
they end abruptly, and, of course, be- 
come extinct at the flood. The sacred 
writers are mainly concerned with the 
descendants of Seth, the third son of 
Adam, and the ancestor of Noah, as 
being the seed whence sprang the 
chosen people, and, in the fullness of 
time, "the Expected of the nations, and 



Desire of the everlasting hills," the 
Messiah. 

Inspiration of Genesis. 

Is the book of Genesis only the prim- 
itive record of a very ancient people, 
and is there any reason why those rec- 
ords should be more trustworthy than 
those of any other ancient people? 

The book of Genesis is as surely in- 
spired as any other portion of the 
Bible. ' ' If any one maintains, ' ' writes 
Father Pesch, S. J., "that the inspired 
writer (of Genesis), could have em- 
bodied in his narrative traditions that 
were false in fact, such a one mani- 
festly departs from Catholic teaching 
as plainly set forth in our standard 
doctrinal works." (De Inspir. S. 
Scrip.) 

"We must absolutely hold that God, 
speaking by the sacred writers, could 
not set down anything but what was 
true. (Leo XIII, Bncy. Provid. Deus.) 

As St. Augustine wisely remarks, 
"Once admit the existence of the very 
least error in a work of such trans- 
cendent authority, and there will be no 
part of it but will seem too rigid, in 
the realm of morals, or, in the realm 
of faith, too difficult of belief. And, 
so, on the same pernicious principle, 
everything will be explained as due to 
the purpose and scope on the writer, 
who is not at all concerned to give us 
the real facts." Ep. 28, n. 3. 

Cath. Ency. 

Bishop MacDonald, Victoria, B. G, 
in Eccles. Rev. 

Age of the World. 

"Catholic Biblical scholars whose 
orthodoxy cannot be questioned teach 



THE BIBLE. 



361 



that the Bible need not necessarily be 
regarded as determining the age of the 
human race True, the names and ages 
of successive patriarchs are given in 
the Bible, and a plain reader of the 
text might consider it a simple problem 
in arithmetic to figure out the total age 
of the human race from Adam to Jesus 
Christ. But the problem is more in- 
tricate, not only because we have no 
certainty of the number of years in the 
original text of pre-Mosaic genealogies, 
but also because there are grave reasons 
for thinking that there may be gaps 
in the genealogies of the Bible — not, 
however, of a kind to detract from the 
Bible's inerrancy." 

The Catholic Encyclopedia gives 
in detail the reasons for the above 
statement, taken from the Rev M. P. 
Hill, S. J., (Ready Answers). As he 
says there is nothing in the teaching of 
the Church to fix the age of the human 
race at four or five thousand, or, in- 
deed, at any number of years. The 
Latin Vulgate (the Bible) make from 
the successive generations a total of 
four thousand years ; but, according to 
the Greek Septuagint, at least a thou- 
sand more must be reckoned Both ver- 
sions are in use in the Church, leaving 
the point undecided as to which is cor- 
rect, or whether both are wrong and a 
third, that of the original text right 

Science attempts to prove by means 
of the existence of pre-historic human 
relics, that the world is very old. Their 
estimates, wild guesses for the most 
part, vary from ten thousand years to 
ten million. The ape-evolutionist is 
the wildest in his assumptions. But 
scientists of the highest order state 



that many of these relics cannot possi- 
bly be classed with the period claimed 
for them, because of the absence of 
proof. The really great men of science 
do not accept the relics as having any 
important bearing on the age of the 
human race. They simply do not know 
at what interval the present genera- 
tion stands from the time that those 
human relics were deposited in the 
places where they were found They 
can guess, they can hazard calculations 
in which a number of "ifs" must be 
understood ; but this is not exact 
science, and it should not be quoted as 
such against the Bible. 

The Cave Man. 

It is a favorite pastime for writers 
to picture primitive man as existing 
in a state of savagery, where he lived 
in caves, made rude signs or marks on 
stones, wore nothing but skins of ani- 
mals slain with rude weapons and car- 
ried off his mate by force He is pic- 
tured as a beast just become human 
and struggling slowly upward This is 
the cave man. Now the science of 
ancient civilization disproves all such 
popular theories. 

The works of Abbe Breuil on the 
subject, "Anthropologic," Vol. XXVI, 
1915, and Professor Sollas, "Ancient 
Hunters," give much accurate in- 
formation upon which to base another 
conception of the cave man. Man did 
live in caves at one period of progress. 
Professor Evans, before the British As- 
sociation for the Advancement of 
Science, in 1916, reviewed the question 
and added much from his own re- 
search. It seems that Crete possessed 



362 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



a wonderful civilization about four 
thousand years ago. It is regarded as 
the birthplace of our European civili- 
zation. Much interesting information 
is found in "Science" concerning Pro- 
fessor Evans' work in Crete. In the 
caves there, evidence has been found 
which apparently justifies the follow- 
ing conclusions. 

The existence of a life after death is 
deduced from the finding of flint 
knives and bone javelins evidently 
placed near the bodies in burial rites 
to prepare the dead for the new life to 
come. Such articles were then com- 
mon enough to be thus given up. Iron 
peroxide was used in preparing the 
bodies of the dead. Caves in France 
and Spain yield frescos which display 
"not only a consummate mastery of 
natural design, but an extraordinary 
technical resource." In these discov- 
eries of art-work, not only charcoal 
but almost all the coloring matter 
known today is found in varying tints. 
Outlines and details of every kind, in- 
cluding "reliefs afforded by convexi- 
ties of the rock surface," are especially 
evident. 

Fire was used. Lights were displayed 
to advantage in these dark recesses of 
the earth. In some galleries of the 
Altamira cave, where the light of day 
had never penetrated, magnificent 
polychrome masterpieces are found. 
And there is no trace of smoke, so 
some progress in the use of artificial 
light is thus proven. Stone lamps are 
known to have existed before this 
period. 

Carvings of various kind are to be 
found on the walls and entrances of 



these caves. Symbols and figures sug- 
gest the art of writing. According to 
Professor Evans, groups of such signs 
resemble "regular inscriptions." He 
concludes that considerable advance 
had been made in hieroglyphic expres- 
sion. 

Figures show skirts, waists and 
sashes upon the woman, while the men 
are pictured with bows and arrows, 
plumed head-pieces and accompanied 
by dogs. In one case a picture shows 
two opposed bands of archers drawn 
up as if for battle 

Dr. Walsh, whose later article in 
"America," October 16th, forms the 
basis for the above summary, concludes 
by asserting that the story of man goes 
back even beyond the civilization of the 
Euphrates and the Nile countries. 
"The remains uncovered show men 
like ourselves and not some lower being 
gradually struggling upward. Even 
the men of the old Stone Age had good 
taste, and domestic tendencies. They 
tried to make their homes beautiful. 
They were the inventors of fire and 
lamps, brushes and painting in oils. 
This evidently shows that they had the 
power to develop a utilitarian civiliza- 
tion, had that been their impelling de- 
sire. 

Higher Criticism. 

There is only one authority for all 
our knowledge of characters in the 
Bible, only one authentic source of in- 
formation and from it we learn that 
they were individuals, not mythical 
persons and deeds. If the Bible account 
is not correct and reliable, where does 
the critic get his knowledge? (If we 



THE BIBLE. 



363 



reject the Biblical narrative we have 
no foundation for any theory about 
these persons, or events. 

The modern higher critic is long 
on theory and argument but very short 
on fact. He ruthlessly banishes from 



consideration the beliefs of thousands 
of years of practically all humanity 
and builds up a system of faith with no 
foundation beyond his unsupported 
imagination. 



Bible Brevities of Interest 



The Language of our Lord was in 
most cases the language of the peopie 
with whom He lived. It is called 
Aramic. The original Hebrew, used 
by the Jews up to the captivity in 
Babylon, was lost about that time, and, 
Aramaic. The original Hebrew, used 
daic, and in the IV Book of Kings, 
18-26, called Syriac, came into general 
use. Aramaic was the language of trade 
and business in Asia Minor, and in 
order to deal with the neighboring na- 
tions the Jews were forced to acquire 
it. The real Hebrew had become a dead 
language at the time of Christ, being 
only in use in the services of the syna- 
gogue. Yet it was there that Jesus 
astonished his hearers by reading the 
book of Isaiah in the original. It was 
His custom to so read the original 
writings of scripture and then to ex- 
plain the text in the language under- 
stood by the people, Aramaic, as 
scholars prefer to call it. The words 
used by Jesus on the cross, "Eloi, Eloi, 
lama sabactani," are Aramaic. The 
Bible, or at least the Old Testament, 
was translated into Aramaic very early. 
About two centuries after Christ it 
was complete. Such translations were 
called Targums. 



Targum is the term given to transla- 
tions of the scriptures into Aramaic, or 
even to paraphrases of the Old Testa- 
ment. Elaborate regulations were laid 
down to govern such cases. A transla- 
tion of the Book of Job was said to 
exist very early. All the canonical 
books existed in this form in course of 
time. In Arabia, it was the custom to 
read from them in the services of the 
synagogue for the benefit of the people 
who understood no other tongue. 



The Pentateuch is understood to 
mean the first five books of the Old 
Testament. The Jews in different parts 
of the country had different names for 
these books, but the majority knew 
them as they are given to us, and in no 
case were the contents at variance. 
They form the basis of the history, law 
and worship, and the life of the chosen 
people. Moses was the author, accord- 
ing to tradition brought into the 
Church by Christ and His Apostles. 



The Samaritan Pentateuch is the 
most important of the works of litera- 
ture of a nation which existed in close 
proximity with the Jews for so many 
years. It is written in Samaritan 



364 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



characters in Hebrew. It is not a trans- 
lation of the Pentateuch, being held as 
a tradition of the nation. The Fathers 
of the Church in their writings fre- 
quently refer to it. A manuscript dating 
from 1514 is held in the Vatican li- 
brary. Some say the Samaritans knew 
of the Pentateuch through some Jews 
who were left in the country in ancient 
times. Yet it was adopted at the time 
of the building of the temple at 
Garizim, about the time of Nehemiah. 
According to this reckoning it existed 
before the Septuagint. It is important 
for reference, and as a verification of 
the text of the Hebrew bible. The 
Samaritans had a Targum of their 
Pentateuch existing, as claimed, about 
2 B. C. 



The Septuagint means the first trans- 
lation of the Hebrew Old Testament 
made into popular Greek before the 
Christian era. It is the most ancient 
translation, and is accepted both by 
Jews and Christians. The word Sep- 
tuagint is considered to have reference 
to the number of translators who were 
engaged in the work at the time of 
Ptolemy II, king of Egypt, and to the 
length of time taken by them in the 
operation. Aristeas, who lived about 
200 B. C, refers to it as having taken 
place some time previous to that year. 
The Apostles and the Evangelists used 
this version ; the Greek church uses it 
to this day, and the Latin versions in 
use in our Church are made from it. 
A manuscript, known as the Vatican, 
dating from the fourth century, is per- 
haps the oldest in actual existence. 



The Judges spoken of in the Old 
Testament, were a combination of a 
king, priest and pontiff. At least they 
performed the duties of these three 
orders There were, in all, thirteen of 
them in direct succession, from Jepthe 
to Samuel. 



The name Jews probably orig- 
inated from the fact, that of all the 
tribes of Israel, that of Judah was the 
most powerful after the captivity. It 
was from this tribe that in time the 
variation of the name came into gen- 
eral use. 



The name of "Jesus" was not in 
common use at the time of the birth 
of our Savior as some seem to believe. 
Only a very few were ever called by 
that name, and then only for a special 
reason which had to do with the mean- 
ing of the name. It signifies three dis- 
tinct features ,which are typified in our 
Lord, King, Priest and Pontiff. 



St.. Paid, by birth a Hebrew, is 
known as a Roman citizen, and at his 
death he claimed privilege of citizen- 
ship in the manner of death. He was 
a Roman citizen by adoption, being a 
native of Tarsus, a city which remained 
faithful to Augustine during his quar- 
rel with Anthony. Among other citi- 
zens of Tarsus, St. Paul was rewarded 
for his faithfulness by being adopted 
as a Roman citizen. 

The population of Rome in the days 
of Augustus is placed at six millions. 



Of the four Evangelists, St. Matthew 
and St. John were Apostles. St. Mark 



THE BIBLE. 



365 



and St. Luke were their disciples, or 
rather the disciples of St. Peter and St. 
Paul respectively. St. Luke was a 
physician, St. Matthew a tax collector 
for the Jews in early life The word 
"Christians" was first applied to the 
followers of Christ at Antioch. 



The Holy Sepulchre, said to be in 
the Testament, beyond the walls of 
Jerusalem, is now to be found within 
the walls. This was a source of doubt 
to all Christians until excavations by 
archeologists proved that the modern 
walls are not built upon the limits of 
the old Jerusalem. The sepulchre is 
now believed to be in the spot actually 
located and referred to in the finding. 



The Temple was built by Solomon 
about fourteen hundred and forty 
years after the Flood, or about thirty- 
one hundred years after Adam It was 
sixty cubits long, twenty wide and 
sixty in height. A porch of twenty 
cubits square reached to the height of 
one hundred twenty cubits. Thirty 
other rooms were built around it, each 
five cubits square and twenty cubits 
high. There were three floors of these 
rooms all connected. The sacred place 
had an altar twenty cubits long and ten 
high. Thousands of gold and silver 
vessels were prepared for the sacrifices. 
Two cherubim were built of solid gold, 
each five cubits high with wings of the 
same length, standing one on each side 
of the holy place where the Ark of the 
Covenant was kept. Pillars of brass 
abounded. Doors twenty cubits high 
led into the temple. The floor, the walls 
and the doors were covered with plates 



of gold, some of them magnificently 
sculptured. The Temple existed until 
the time of the captivity when it was 
burned to the ground by the invaders 
under Nebuchadnezzar. 

After the return from captivity the 
rebuilding of the Temple was begun by 
order and with the assistance of Cyrus. 
It was completed under Darius. The 
altar was sixty cubits high and the 
same in width. The sacred vessels, 
stolen in the invasion, were all brought 
back. This was not as large as the tem- 
ple of Solomon. It was pillaged in 
later years by Antiochus, and after- 
wards purified by Judas Maccabeus. 
Again it suffered at the hands of Cras- 
sus. It was taken down and rebuilt 
by Herod only again to be destroyed 
by Titus, in the reign of Vespasian, 
during a war with the Jews, eleven 
hundred and thirty years after the 
first building of Solomon, and six hun- 
dred and thirty-nine years after its 
second building by Haggai, in the reign 
of Cyrus. No serious attempt to rebuild 
has ever been made. 

The Handwriting on the Wall, seen 
by the king of Babylon after desecrat- 
ing the sacred vessels of the Temple, 
consists of three words, "Mene," 
"Thekel," "Phares." The first signi- 
fies a number, the second, a weight, the 
third a fragment. These words are 
from the Greek. God had proportioned 
a "number" of years and they were at 
an end. Babylon's king had been 
"weighed" in the balance and had 
been found wanting. His kingdom 
would be divided, broken into "frag- 
ments" between contending armies. 
Such was the interpretation of Daniel. 



366 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Kings. There were twenty-one kings 
of the line of David, beginning with 
Saul and ending with Zedekiah. The 
line lasted five hundred and fourteen 
years, up to the captivity. 



Gehenna is the name given to a val- 
ley near Jerusalem, where at one time 
sacrifice was offered to Moloch. It was 
later used as a place for the cremation 
of bodies, a fire being kept burning all 
the time for this purpose. Because of 
the abominations which took place 
in the time of Achaz, every form nf 
pollution later found its way into this 
valley, and the name of Gehenna, 
which originally meant the valley of a 



man called Hinnom, became a byword 
for a place of punishment for the 
wicked after death This name is com- 
mon in the Targums and in literature 
of the Jewish period 



The High-priests of the Temple were 
officers chosen by succession, the son 
to the father in direct line from Solo- 
mon. There were in all eighteen. 



Beelezebub, the name attributed 
sometimes to the devil, is a term de- 
rived from an ancient word meaning 
the king of flies or the leader in tor- 
ments 



Bibliography. 

Holy Bible; His Holiness, Pope Benedict XV; Faith of Our 
Fathers, Gibbons; Cardinal Gasquet in Lecture; Archbishop 
Glennon, St. Louis, in LectureT Whore We Got In 3 Bible, Graham; 
Revising The Vulgate, Blundell; Father Cotter, P. J., in America, 
January, 1915; Rev. A. J. Maas, S. J., in Catholic Encyclopedia; 
Ready Answers, Hill, S. J.; Bishop McDonald, Victoria, article in 
Ecclesiastical Review; Virchow; Burmueller; Delitzsch; PpscIi; 
Writings of St. Augustine; Pre-Reformation Bibles, a Catholic 
Mind pamphlet. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Explanation of Our Devotions* 

The Mass — Its Ceremonies — High Mass — Hearing Mass — Vestments — Explanation 
of Colors — Rules for High Mass — Mass in Different Rites; Latin, Greek, Syriac, 
Coptic, Armenian, Gothic, Chaldaic, Sclavonic, and Wallachian — Three Masses — Ben- 
ediction — Why Services Are in Latin — Devotion of Forty Hours — Catholic Year of 
Feasts, in Order — Circumcision — Epiphany — Candlemas — Churching — Blessing of 
Throats — Easter Communion — Blessed Ashes — Lent — Passiontide — Annunciation — 
Palm Sunday — Holy Week — Holy Thursday — Good Friday — Holy Saturday — Resur- 
rection — Ascension — Pentecost — Corpus Christi — July Feasts — Assumption — Nativity 
of B. V. M. — The Rosary — How to Say It — All Souls' Day — Advent — Immaculate 
Conception — Nativity of Our Lord — Fasts, Abstinence— Ember Days — Marriages — 
Easter Date — Gospel for Sundays — Monthly Devotions — Stations of the Cross — Mass 
Prayers — The Breviary — Sabbath and Sunday — Sunday Abuses — Missing Mass in 
Summer — Church Music — Mixed Choirs. 



The Ceremonies at Mass. 

No more serious obligation is placed 
upon us than that which tells us to 
hear Mass on Sundays and holidays. 
The Church strongly impresses the 
importance of this precept upon us 
for several reasons, of which none 
is greater than the fact that the Mass 
is a repetition of the Sacrifice of Cal- 
vary. Since this is so, then we, who 
receive the benefit of the Sacrifice, 
should be present and learn to ap- 
preciate, as far as we can, the extent 
and depth of our Savior's love for 
us. But it is not this feature of Sun- 
day worship that we wish to consider. 
We know what the Mass is from our 
Catechism ; we understand it accord- 
ing to our lights, even if we are not 
sufficiently appreciative. It is more 
to the point to consider our attitude 



while present at Mass. We go for 
various reasons. But being there, 
what does the Mass mean for us? 
How do we conduct ourselves during 
Mass? 

Meaning of Ceremonies. 

It has been suggested, as a remedy 
for distractions during Mass, that we 
should endeavor to learn the meaning 
of the things we see about us ; and by 
a better understanding of the cere- 
monies of the Church, we might be 
helped to a greater degree of devo- 
tion. First of all, what is the mean- 
ing of the word "Mass"? For, of 
course, the word has a meaning, since 
everything connected with the Church 
has a meaning, and there is no reason 
why we should not understand it. 
Every movement of the priest during 
Mass is studied, the result of much 



368 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



preparation, and signifies something 
we should know. The word "Mass" 
means a sending forth, an offering of 
prayer and sacrifice to God ; the priest 
represents Jesus Christ; the altar is 
the cross upon which our Saviour 
died; the vestments signify the gar- 
ments, white and purple, with which 
Herod and the Jews clothed our Di- 
vine Lord in scorn and ridicule ; the 
Chalice means the sepulchre in which 
Jesus was buried ; the paten, the stone 
that closed it. The altar cloth and 
corporal signify the linens in which 
our Saviour was laid ; the Host is the 
body of Christ; the mixture of wine 
and water signifies the blood and 
water that flowed from our Lord's 
side. 

The High Mass. 

At a High Mass the Deacon and 
Sub-Deacon represent the Apostles 
and Disciples. The incense signifies 
the prayer of the people rising up to 
Heaven. The choir represents the 
Holy Fathers, the Patriarchs and 
Prophets, who have never ceased 
from the time of creation to sing the 
praises of God. In every altar there 
is a stone, consecrated by the Bishop, 
without which Mass could not be said. 
There, too, are the rules of some saint, 
usually the saint to whose guardian- 
ship the church is dedicated. The 
center of the altar is where the stone 
and the relics are placed, just in 
front of the tabernacle where the 
Blessed Sacrament is kept. A light 
is always burning in the sanctuary 
lamp, as long as the Blessed Sacra- 
ment is present in the Church, signi- 



fying the light of Divine faith which 
is burning in the hearts of the faith- 
is ever burning in the hearts of the 
faithful. The side of the altar to which 
the priest first turns represents the 
giving of God's favor to the Jews. 
When he goes to the left, the Gospel 
side, this signifies the passing of 
Christ's teaching to the Gentiles, and 
the Gospel, which contains the mys- 
teries of our faith, is always read 
from this side. Later, when the main 
part of the Mass is over, the priest 
returns to the other corner of the 
altar, to signify that at the end of 
the world, the Jews shall be con- 
verted and receive the faith of Christ. 

Hearing Mass. 

To hear Mass properly, then, we 
must know something of these things. 
We enter the church, taking Holy 
Water, knowing that by this action 
we wash ourselves free from the dis- 
tractions of the world. We genuflect 
to the Blessed Sacrament before tak- 
ing our seat, and then all through 
Mass we endeavor to follow the priest 
by means of a prayer book, an arrange- 
ment of prayers which coincides with 
the action or words of the priest. 
Nearly all prayerbooks are so ar- 
ranged, and thus we can follow and 
offer up the sacrifice for our own pri- 
vate intention. When the priest 
stands before the altar saying the 
"Confiteor, " make confession of your 
sins with him, and meditate upon the 
parts of the Mass as they develop. 
Unite yourself with the Angels of 
Bethlehem in the "Gloria in Excel- 
sis;" think of our Savior's praying 







HOLY NAME SOCIETY TRIBUTE TO POPE PUIS XI. 

The Very Reverend M. J. Ripple, O. P., National Director of the Holy Name 
Society, shown surrounded by photographs of hundreds of parish branches of 
the Society, which were presented to the Holy Father in 1922, with report of 
wonderful growth. 



EXPLANATION OF OUR DEVOTIONS. 369 



for us during the "prayer of the 
day;" read the "Epistle" and "Gos- 
pel" from your prayerbook, and say 
the "I believe in God," during the 
time when the "Credo" is being read 
or sung. Remember the three most 
important parts of the Mass, the 
"Offertory," the "Consecration" and 
the " Communion. " Be especially rev- 
erent at those moments. Recall here 
the sacred occasions when Our Lord 
offered Himself, the Last Supper, 
when He took bread and blessed it 
and broke it; and then the Commun- 
ion, the consummation of the Sacri- 
fice on Calvary. The remaining pray- 
ers should serve as a thanksgiving 
to God for the Sacrifice, in which we 
have just participated. The number 
of times the priest turns toward the 
people during Mass signifies the five 
appearances of Our Savior to the 
people after His Resurrection. The 
"Ite Missa Est" is His farewell, 
while the blessing means His final 
benediction before His ascension into 
heaven. When a Mass is said in 
black, there is no blessing given — to 
show that the offering is for the 
souls in purgatory principally; like- 
wise the "Gloria," hymns of praise 
and joy are omitted. This is done 
also on the Sundays in Lent and Ad- 
vent for reasons the reader will un- 
derstand by recalling the spirit of 
the Church during those periods. 

No one should try to hear Mass 
without a prayerbook or beads, some- 
thing to assist the concentration of 
heart and mind upon what is going 
on. Opportunities of grace are not 
to be thrown away. And since we 



come to Mass, let us learn to profit 
by our coming, and earn for our- 
selves that which will be placed to 
our credit. A Mass heard under the 
spell of distractions is of no benefit 
to the distracted hearer and is, per- 
haps, an insult to God. Consequently, 
it is of importance that the Catholic 
worshiper should be in church, if 
possible, a little while before Mass 
begins, should keep his thought on 
God and on His Sacrifice in our be- 
half throughout the devotion of 
Mass, and should not rush out of 
church immediately after the last 
Gospel has been read, but should re- 
main and join in the three Hail 
Mary's, Hail Holy Queen and prayers 
for the Church and the faithful, 
which the priest recites at the end 
of every low Mass. It is only when 
the worshiper has done all this that 
he has heard Mass in the proper 
spirit and with the proper devotion. 

Vestments of the Priest at Mass. 

The vestments which the priest 
wears during Mass are the following : 

1. The shoulder cloth (amice) rep- 
resents the cloth with which the face 
of Christ was covered. 

2. The "alb," the long, white gar- 
ment, is a reminder of that vesture 
which Herod caused to be put upon 
the Savior, and it is a symbol of 
purity. 

3. The "girdle" reminds us of the 
rope with which Jesus was bound for 
the scourging, and by it the Church 
urges us to bridle our evil desires. 

4. The "maniple" served formerly 
as a cloth with which to dry tears. 



370 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



It reminds us of the handkerchief 
used by Jesus, also of the bands with 
which His hands were tied, and it 
calls upon us to undertake cheerfully 
all hardships and cares. 

5. The "stole," the mark of priestly 
authority, is a reminder that God, 
through Christ, has given us back the 
robe of honor of His grace, and it 
symbolizes the rope which was tied 
around the neck of Christ with which 
he was dragged from place to place. 

6. The "chasuble" (formerly a 
long mantle) reminds us of the pur- 
ple robe which was put on Jesus to 
mock Him, and signifies that sweet 
yoke, the Cross of Christ. It typifies 
in its two parts the commandment of 
the love of God and our neighbor. 

Explanation of Color in Vestments. 

The different colors of the priest's 
vestments have also their meaning : 

1. White signifies innocence and 
spiritual joy, and is worn upon fes- 
tivals in honor of our Lord, the 
Blessed Virgin, the angels, confes- 
sors and virgins. 

2. Red, symbol of the love of God, 
is worn on the feasts of Pentecost, 
the finding and exaltation of the 
Cross, and of martyrs. 

3. Green, symbol of eternal hope, 
is worn from Pentecost until Advent, 
and after Epiphany until Lent. 

4. Violet, or purple token of hu- 
mility and penance, is used in Ad- 
vent and Lent. 

5. Black, color of death, is used on 
Good Friday and in Masses for the 
dead. 

The altar stone signifies Mount 



Calvary; the altar cloths, the burial 
clothes of Jesus; the steps before the 
altar, the Mount of Olives and the 
way to Calvary; the missal signifies 
the book of debt cancelled by the sac- 
rifice of Jesus; the two cruets be- 
token the sponge filled with gall and 
vinegar given to Jesus upon the 
Cross. 

The sacred vessels and linens of 
which the priest makes use at Mass 
are: (a) The "Chalice," the upper 
part of which (the cup) signifies the 
tomb of Christ. It must be made 
either of solid gold or of silver with 
a substantial gold surface. 

(b) The "paten," a small plate 
upon which the Host rests ; this, with 
the cover of the chalice (pall), rep- 
resents the gravestone. 

(c) The "purificator" signifies the 
handkerchief. 

(d) The "corporal" signifies the 
grave clothes. 

Rules for High Mass. 

The following are the rules to be 
observed at High Mass: 

1. All rise when the priest enters 
from the sacristy. 

2. Stand when priest approaches 
altar. 

3. Kneel when the priest recites 
prayers at foot of the altar. 

4. Kise at the intoning of the "Glo- 
ria." 

5. Sit when the priest sits down. 

6. Rise Avhen he kisses the altar 
before singing the prayers. 

7. Sit after the prayers, while the 
Epistle is read. 



EXPLANATION OF OUR DEVOTIONS. 371 



8. Rise when the priest sings 
"Dominus Vobiscum" before the 
Gospel. 

9. If the sermon follows the Gos- 
pel, kneel if the priest kneels, 
stand while the Gospel is read, 
and sit during the sermon. But 
if a bishop preaches, the faithful 
should remain standing until the 
bishop invites them to sit down. 

10. All stand at the beginning of 
the Credo, and sit when the 
priest sits. 

11. "When the choir sings "et incar- 
natus est" . . . . "Et homo f ac- 
tus est," the priest uncovers his 
head and the faithful stand and 
then kneel. Afterward they 
stand, then sit until the priest 
returns to the altar and kisses it. 

12. Then all rise and stand during 
the "Dominus Vobiscum" and 
the Oremus, before the Offer- 
tory. 

13. Then all sit until the priest 
sings "Per omnia saccula," be- 
fore the Preface, when all should 
rise. 

14. From the "Sanctus" to the sec- 
ond Ablution, after Communion, 
all kneel. 

15. Sit from the second Ablution 
until the priest kisses the altar 
to sing "Dominus Vobiscum" 
before the prayers. 

16. Stand during last prayers and 
until the priest has sung "Ites 
Missa est." 

17. Kneel for the blessing. 

18. Stand for last Gospel and until 
the priest has left the Sanctum. 



Mass in Different Rites. 

The liturgical rites in which Mass 
is said in the Catholic Church 
throughout the world are : Latin, 
Greek, Syriac, Coptic, Armenian, 
Gothic, Chaldaic, Sclavonic and Wal- 
lachian. 

Latin is the language of the entire 
West and a few places in the East 
(see Chapter on Use of Latin). There 
has been no changes since the begin- 
ning of Christianity. Latin came 
with the establishment of the Church 
at Rome. Proofs exist dated in the 
third century. 

Greek is used in Syria, Jerusalem, 
Russia, Greece, parts of Italy and 
Europe, by the Bulgarians and Mus- 
covites, for instance. Their Patri- 
archs reside at Antioch, Alexandria 
and Jerusalem. The Catholics are al- 
lowed by Rome to retain all their 
ancient rites. 

Syriac is used by the Maronites of 
Mount Lebanon and by the Syrian 
Melchites of the East. Theirs is the 
Liturgy of St. James. They have a 
boast that their language is the one 
used by our Divine Lord and His 
Blessed Mother, as well as by the 
Apostles. Their Patriarch is at An- 
tioch. 

Chaldaic is peculiar to the Baby- 
lonian Catholics. They are mostly 
converts from a former heresy, now 
living in Mesopotamia, Armenia and 
Kurdistan. Their Patriarch lives in 
Bagdad. 

The Sclavonic language is used by 
Catholics in Istria, Liburnia and parts 
of Dalmatia. Privileges were granted 



372 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



them by Pope Adrian II, which were 
later confirmed by other Popes. 
Christians in Turkey and the schis- 
matic Eussians also use this language. 

The Wallachians, since their con- 
version in the seventeenth century, 
have been using their own language, 
a concession very rarely granted, and 
a tribute, no doubt, to their tenacious 
grip on old customs. 

The Armenian language is used in 
Armenia, Asia Minor, Palestine, Tur- 
key, Georgia, Greece, Africa, Italy 
and Russia. 

The Coptic, which is said to have 
been the language of the Pharaohs, 
is used in Egypt. The word is an 
evolution of the Greek word for 
Egyptians. The Liturgy of St. Basil, 
St. Cyril and St. Gregory is user]. 
Their Vicar-Apostolic lives at Cairo. 

The Ethiopic is very like the Coptic 
and is found in Abyssinia. 

Reasons. 

In all the above cases the language 
used is not the modern. The ancient 
classics are held as inviolable, as is 
the Latin in our Church today. This 
principle of so holding the language 
of God's praise has a precedent in 
the Old Law, where the Jews used 
the language of the Prophets, the an- 
cient Hebrew, even in the time of 
our Lord. And it is well known that, 
from the time of the captivity, the 
Jewish people had lost the use of 
their ancient language, except as 
above outlined. The common people 
knew only the language used by 
Jesus and His Apostles, said by some 



to have been Chaldaic, and by others, 
Syriac. 

Other precedents are found in the 
language of the Koran, being alto- 
gether unknown to the Mahometans 
of today, and among the Hindoos 
none but the Brahmins are permitted 
to read the Veda. 

Explanation. 

The word "ritus" means, in Latin, 
the form or manner of any religious 
observance. In English it means the 
ceremonies, prayers and functions of 
any religious denomination. We 
speak of it as the sum of religious 
functions within the Church. 

No principle of uniformity had 
been maintained in rites. The funda- 
mental truths are held inviolable and 
all are obliged to conform to and use 
them. But they are expressed dif- 
ferently in some places. For instance, 
the administration of the Sacraments 
contains the essential elements every- 
where, although there may be some 
difference in the accompanying pray- 
ers and ceremonies. Customs and 
passage of time have produced the 
changes, which account for the va- 
rious rites. But no change or alter- 
ation in the essential parts has ever 
been, or would be, tolerated by the 
Church. 

The Roman rite has never resented 
the fact that other people have their 
own expression of the same truth 
That rite, to which we belong, is the 
oldest, but our fellow Catholics in the 
East, where the other rites are cen- 
tered, have the same right to their 
traditional liturgies as we have to 



EXPLANATION OF OUR DEVOTIONS. 373 



ours. And they have so many beau- 
tiful prayers and ceremonies, the loss 
of which would be a great misfor- 
tune. Leo XIII wrote in 1894 of his 
reverence for the venerable rites of 
the Eastern Churches. 

When Christianity appeared Greek 
was the prevailing language in the 
world about the Mediterranean, 
where the teaching of Christ was fos- 
tered. But when the rites were first 
written, about the fourth or fifth cen- 
tury, the Eastern liturgical lan- 
guages had changed. It was the lan- 
guage used Sunday after Sunday by 
the Fathers of the Church that was 
known, hallowed by too many sacred 
associations to change or alter. In 
the West every educated person used 
the Latin until the period of the Ren- 
aissance. To change the liturgy 
from the Latin to the Celtic or Ger- 
manic, for instance, would have been 
absurd, since all in those countries 
were just as familiar with the Latin 
as with their own tongue. And Latin 
was the tongue for all nations. 

Greek never secured the hold on 
the East that Latin did in the West. 
Great nations like Syria and Egypt 
kept their own language and litera- 
ture. The people knew no Greek, so 
the liturgy was translated into Cop- 
tic in Egypt, and into Syriac in Syria 
and Palestine. Thus the principle of 
a uniform tongue throughout the 
world became impossible. And even 
in the East no general principle can 
be established. Some of the Churches 
there have kept up the old rite tra- 
ditional with them, even long after 
the old language has ceased to be 



spoken, the Coptic, Syriac and Ar- 
menian, for instance. 

Three Masses. 

The practice of celebrating three 
Masses has its origin at Rome. It 
was so old at the beginning of the 
sixth century that the Liber Pontif- 
icals, compiled at the time, referred 
it to Pope Telesphorus, of the second 
century. The very old Mass-books, 
called the Gelasian and Gregorian 
Sacramentaries, contain each three 
Masses for Christmas Day. Ancient- 
ly, they were said at the time and in 
the order in which they are pre- 
scribed in the Missal, i. e., at mid- 
night, before the aurora, and after 
sunrise. We know that in the sixth 
century, and probably earlier, the 
Pope was wont to say these three 
Masses at St. Mary Major's, St. An- 
astasia's (whose feast occurred that 
day), and at St. Peter's. 

Legislation of the Church permit- 
ting three Masses on the feast of All 
Souls, November 2, is of recent or: gin. 
Neither of these practices are of ob- 
ligation upon any priest. 

Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. 

Benediction of The Blessed Sacra- 
ment, the service of Holy Church, 
which ranks next to the Mass in im- 
portance, cannot be described better 
than in the following words of the 
great convert, Cardinal Newman : 

"The Benediction of the Blessed 
Sacrament is one of the simplest rites 
of the Church. The priests enter and 
kneel down; one of them unlocks the 
Tabernacle, takes out the Blessed 
Sacrament, inserts it upright in a 



374 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Monstrance of precious metal, and 
sets it in a conspicuous place above 
the altar, in the midst of lights, for 
all to see. The people then begin to 
sing ; meanwhile the priest twice of- 
fers incense to the King of heaven, 
before Whom he is kneeling. Then 
he takes the Monstrance in his hands 
and, turning to the people, blesses 
them with the Most Holy, in the form 
of a cross, while the bell is sounded 
by one of the attendants to call at- 
tention to the ceremony. It is our 
Lord's solemn benediction of His peo- 
ple, as when He lifted up His hands 
over the children, or when He blessed 
His chosen ones when he ascended 
up from Mt. Olivet. As sons might 
come before a parent before going to 
bed at night, so, once or twice a week, 
the great Catholic family comes be- 
fore the Eternal Father, after the 
hustle or toil of the day, and He 
smiles upon them, and sheds upon 
them the light of His countenance. 
It is a full accomplishment of what 
the priest invoked upon the Israel- 
ites, 'The Lord bless thee and keep 
thee : the Lord show His face to thee 
and have mercy on thee : the Lord 
turn His countenance to thee and 
give thee peace.' Can there be a 
more touching rite, even in the judg- 
ment of those who do not believe in 
it? How many a man, not a Catho- 
lic, is moved, on seeing it, to say 'Oh, 
that I did but believe it!' when he 
sees the priest take up the Fount of 
Mercy, and the people bent Ioav in 
adoration! It is one of the most 
beautiful, natural and soothing ac- 
tions of the Church." 



Why the Services Are in Latin. 

Non-Catholics are puzzled because 
the greater part of our Church serv- 
ices are in Latin. Father George 
Bampfield, of the Oratory, London, 
deals with the matter in one of the 
Catholic Truth publications. Father 
Bampfield pointed out that despite the 
Latin, the less educated of the Cath- 
olic congregations understood the 
Mass very well. 

In the first place, Father Bampfield 
said there was no need that the Mass 
be recited or sung in English; and 
in the second place there was much 
need that it be recited or sung in 
Latin. In celebrating the Mass, the 
priest is not only praying; he is doing 
a work which is greater than prayer, 
and the people join him. The one 
great Act the priest performs is a 
Sacrifice, as ordained by God. The 
congregation necessarily joins the 
priest in his Act but does not neces- 
sarily join him in any prayer said 
relating to that Act. It consequently 
matters not what language is used; 
what the people join in is the great 
Act of worship. 

A Universal Language. 

Since the universality of the Church 
is one of her characteristics, it is only 
fitting that the devotions should be 
universal and given everywhere in 
the same tongue. So men, gathered 
as on the day of Pentecost, from all 
nations under heaven in one monas- 
tery or in one church, can not only be 
present at the same sacrifice because 
it is an Act in which they all join, 
but can join in the same psalms and 



EXPLANATION OF OUR DEVOTIONS. 375 



the same prayers in the very same 
tongue to which they were used each 
in his own land. Clearly this is good 
for both layman and priest. The 
priest who is ordered away to China 
at a moment's notice, can say his 
Mass just as quietly when he arrives 
there. 

There is a greater reason, however, 
as Father Bampfield insisted: Chris- 
tianity, he told the non-Catholic, is no 
longer Christianity if it be changed. 
Christianity added to, or Christianity 
taken from, is not the Christianity of 
Christ. It follows, then, that the fixed, 
if dead, language suits best the pur- 
pose of the Church; the meaning of 
each word is established and cannot 
alter. What Cicero meant when first 
he spoke the words in the Senate at 
Rome, what St. Jerome and St. Augus- 
tine meant — that same is meant today, 
and will be meant when the world 
ends. What an English-speaking Cath- 
olic means by the Latin word, that the 
Frenchman means, and also the Italian, 
the Austrian, the Hindoo, and Jap who 
are acquainted with Latin. All who 
know living languages understand 
how greatly the meanings of words 
vary in different ages. By the use of 
Latin, a fixed and settled language, 
the doctrine of the Church is em- 
balmed in one unchanging tongue — 
as unchangeable as the doctrine. 

Devotion of the Forty Hours. 

Long ago it was a very pious prac- 
tice to expose the Blessed Sacrament in 
moments of great danger, in times of 
great calamity, that the people might 
receive the especial consolation so nec- 



essary. Attracted to the Church by the 
sight of the Blesed Sacrament, usually 
hidden in the Tabernacle, throngs of 
worshipers drew closer to God in the 
hour of their trial. What was in the 
beginning an inspiration on the part of 
the priests in charge of these afflicted 
parishes grew gradually into a custom. 

The Forty Hours adoration was first 
introduced in Italy in 1556, and was 
at once approved by the Church. In- 
tended as it was to correspond with the 
forty hours of darkness and loneliness 
spent by Jesus in the tomb, the devo- 
tion appealed at once to the hearts of 
the faithful. It is now a universal cus- 
tom regulated by the Bishop of each 
diocese, who arranges the hours of 
adoration in the various churches, 
throughout the year, in such way as 
to have continuous devotion, as far as 
possible. 

The Blessed Sacrament, consecrated 
at a High Mass, which opens the cere- 
mony, is placed on Exposition, follow- 
ing a solemn procession through the 
Church. The altar of exposition is es- 
pecially adorned with flowers and 
lights. The usual custom is to close 
the exposition towards evening, con- 
tinue it throughout the following day, 
and close on the morning of the third 
day. 

It is a time of special devotion in 
which special favors and graces are 
granted those who go to Confession and 
receive Communion. Large crowds are 
attracted to the Church and the people 
strive to atone as far as possible to our 
Blessed Lord for those lonely hours 
spent in the tomb previous to His res- 
urrection. 



376 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



The Catholic Year of Feasts 



Thanks be to God and to His Church 
for the abundance and the beauty of 
the Catholic year's array of feasts. 
Since these feast days constitute a suc- 
cession of striking reminders telling 
the Catholic again and again of God 
and His goodness of the great plan of 
salvation, of God's Mother, of God's 
saints, and inviting him over and over 
to take advantage of God's grace and 
to serve Him truly by imitating that 
Mother and those saints who were hu- 
man even as Himself. The lack of space 
and time forbid anything like an ade- 
quate treatment of the subject. 

Circumcision. 

Beginning with the first day of the 
year (although the ecclesiastical year 
begins on the first Sunday in Advent), 
it may be said that the Church has 
made this a holy day of obligation, not 
so much, perhaps, because of the cir- 
cumcision of our Lord which it com- 
memorates, as because she would teach 
us to sanctify a new period in our life, 
by a consecration of this new period 
to God and to His Service. 

Holy Days of Obligation. 

At any rate, January first is a holy 
day of obligation on which we are 
obliged to assist at Holy Mass under 
pain of mortal sin. The other days 
during the year on which the same rule 
is in force are, besides every Sunday in 
the year, the feasts of the Ascension of 
Our Lord, the Assumption of Our Lady 
(August 15th), All Saints' (Novem- 



ber 1st), the Immaculate Conception of 
Our Lady (December 8th), and the 
Nativity of Our Lord, or Christmas 

(December 25th). 

Abstinence on Friday. 

The law commanding us to abstain 
a'om meat on every Friday of the year 
does not apply to holy days of obliga- 
tion, and meat may be eaten by us on 
Fridays, which happen to be holy days 
of obligation. 

Epiphany. 

A great feast, though not of obliga- 
tion, is that of the Epiphany, popu- 
larly known as Twelfth Night, which 
is kept on January 6th. It commem- 
orates the adoration of the Infant 
Savior by the Magi, or kings, as well 
as the manifestation of Jesus' glory — 
in His baptism when a voice from 
Heaven declared Him to be the Son 
of God, — and in the miracle of Cana 
when He changed water into wine. The 
chief meaning of the feast, however, 
lies in the first of these three, that is to 
say, in the acknowledgment of Christ 
as God by the representatives of the 
Gentiles, the three kings from far 
away who followed the star to Beth- 
lehem. 

Still another day of holy importance 
in the month of January is the first 
Sunday of the month (Holy Name) 
consecrated to the Holy Name of Jesus, 
our Lord and Savior. There is no 
need of saying that this should be a 
day of the most special devotion for 
every faithful Catholic — since it is in 



EXPLANATION OF OUR DEVOTIONS. 377 



the Holy Name of Jesus that we hope 
to be saved. 

Candlemas Day — Purification. 

Early in February, on the second 
day of the month, comes the Feast of 
the Purification of the Blessed Virgin 
Mary. The purest of the pure, the 
Virgin-Mother of God Himself. She 
was certainly not bound to obey the 
Jewish law which demanded that, after 
giving birth to a child, a woman must 
visit the temple to be purified. But 
Mary obeyed that law and made an 
offering of a pair of doves — in order, 
no doubt, to teach us all, by Her ex- 
ample, to obey the One True, Holy 
Church of God established on earth 
through the Inspiration of God the 
Holy Ghost, some thirty years later. 
Purification Day is also called "Can- 
dlemas Day," because Holy Church, 
for this feast, advises an offering of 
candles from the faithful to the 
Church, in the place of the sacrifice 
prescribed by the Jewish law and in 
commemoration of the prophecy of St. 
Simeon — when Our Lady came to be 
purified and to present Our Lord at 
the temple — that Jesus would be a light 
of revelation to the world. For eight 
hundred years Holy Church has sol- 
emnly blessed the candles on this day. 

Churching. 

Be it added, for the information of 
the Christian mothers who, in imitation 
of the Mother of God, choose — as a mat- 
ter of devotion, not of precept— to pre- 
sent themselves for "churching," that 
the offering they may make (in propor- 
tion to their means) goes directly into 



the Church funds and does not become 
the property of the officiating priest. 

Blessing of Throats. 

St. Blase 's day follows the feast day 
of the Purification. An early Bishop 
of Armenia was St. Blasius, and a 
martyr for the Faith. He wrought 
many miracles, chief among them being 
cures of dangerous throat diseases. 
Therefore, throats are blessed on his 
day (February 3d), by force of an 
ancient pious custom. 

February 11th marks the anniver- 
sary of Our Immaculate Lady's first 
appearance, at Lourdes, in France, to 
an innocent, devout little peasant girl. 
Lourdes is now, and has been since 
1858, one of the favored spots where 
Mary Conceived Without Sin pours 
out Her mercy on suffering mankind, 
and it attracts thousands upon thou- 
sands every year — not a few of whom 
are beneficiaries of Our Lady's mirac- 
ulous help. 

Easter Communion. 

The holy penitential season of Lent 
begins on Ash Wednesday Before we 
deal with the Lenten days, services and 
ceremonies, let us point out that, when 
the law of the Church obliges us to re- 
ceive the Sacraments of Penance and 
the Holy Eucharist during the Paschal 
time, as oblige us it does, it means by 
"Paschal time" the period beginning 
on the first Sunday in Lent and ending 
on Trinity Sunday All Catholics muit 
obey this law The infirm, the sick, who 
cannot come to Church during this 
time, should notify the priests of their 
inability Then the priests will ar- 



378 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



range to have them receive the Sacra- 
ments at their homes. 

Sunday Titles. 

The titles of the three Sundays which 
precede Ash Wednesday, Septuages- 
ima, Sexagesima, and Quinquaesima 
mean respectively, seventy, sixty and 
fifty. They refer to ancient customs 
among the early Christians of setting 
aside that number of days for the sea- 
son of Lent. The Church has never 
authorized any more than forty days 
for this period, commemorating our Sa- 
vior 's period of fasting in the desert. 

Blessed Ashes. 

Coming now to the first day of Lent, 
Ash Wednesday, it is on this day that 
the faithful Catholic who desires to 
inaugurate the Lenten season in a truly 
religious manner is marked on the 
forehead with a sign of the cross traced 
by the priest with blessed ashes — the 
ashes being procured through the 
burning of the preceding year's blessed 
palm. To be thus marked means not 
only a rebuke to human respect, but 
also a determination to enter the Len- 
ten season with a chastened, humble 
and penitent spirit — in remembrance 
of the days during which our Lord 
fasted in the desert All should present 
themselves at the Church in obedience 
to this custom. It is well to note that 
there is a recent regulation of the 
Church against taking away of blessod 
ashes. The reasons for this are ap- 
parent. Therefore, do not ask for ashes 
to be taken from the Church 

Lenten Services. 

While it is true that the faithful 
Catholic must practice his holy religion 



throughout the year, it is especially 
right that he should be present, and 
devoutly present, at the Lenten serv- 
ices, for there are great opportunities 
of grace to be gained during the peni- 
tential season. The Lenten services 
usually consist of Daily Mass, Sunday 
Mass, with Evening Devotions on 
Wednesday and the way of the Cross 
on Friday. 

Passion Time. 

Lent is solemn, of course, but the 
more solemn part of the season begins 
on Sunday before Palm Sunday, known 
as Passion Sunday, when all the images 
in the Church are veiled in violet, the 
color of sorrow, recalling to us Our 
Lord's period of concealment from His 
friends just before His death 

The Annunciation. 

About this time are held two great 
feasts of Our Blessed Lady. The first 
of these is one of the greatest of all 
Christian feasts, that of the Annuncia- 
tion, commemorating the humble, im- 
maculate Virgin's submission to the 
will of God, whose Angel announced to 
her that she was to bear His Son. On 
the clay of the Annunciation (March 
25) began the work of mankind's re- 
demption in so far in its immediate re- 
lation to this earth, since then it was 
that Sinless Mary conceived the Son 
of God through the operation of the 
Holy Ghost. 

And the second of the feasts is one 
of the two yearly commemorations of 
the seven sorrows of our Blessed 
Lady, on Friday, March 26th. Also 
the feast of St. Joseph, celebrated ou 
March 19th, and the feast of Ireland's 



EXPLANATION OF OUR DEVOTIONS. 379 



patron Saint Patrick, is celebrated on 
March 17th. 

Palm Sunday. 

Palm Sunday, the Sunday before 
Easter, celebrates our Savior's tri- 
umphal entry into Jerusalem, when 
palms were waved to welcome Him by 
those who believed in His mission. On 
this day the palm is blessed by the 
Church at the High Mass and distrib- 
uted to the worshipers, in accordance 
with a custom dating back to apostolic 
times. 

Holy Week. 

The office on Wednesday, Friday and 
Saturday of Holy Week, given in the 
afternoon or evening, is called the 
Tenebrae, and taken from the Lamen- 
tations of the prophet Jeremias. Thir- 
teen candles are lighted on a triangular 
stand, and one of them is extinguished 
at the end of each psalm, until one 
only is left alight. This exemplifies 
the growing Oai-kness of the time when 
Christ, the Light of the World, was put 
to death. The last candle is hidden, 
not extinguished, to show that death 
could not really take Jesus Christ, 
though for a little while it sormed to 
do so. The noise at the end of the 
office represents the confusion resulting 
from Christ's death. 

Holy Thursday. 

At the only Mass said in Church on 
Holy Thursday, the bells are rung at 
the Gloria. They are not rung again 
till the Gloria on Holy Saturday. In- 
stead is used the wooden clapper. The 
Holy Thursday procession is said to 
commemorate Our Lord's journey to 
the Mount of Olives after His last sup- 



per. On Holy Thursday the Bishop 
of each diocese blesses the Holy Oils, 
used by the priests in administering the 
Sacraments of Baptism and Extreme 
Unction. Furthermore, the main altar 
is stripped of its linen and or- 
naments and the sanctuary lamp is 
extinguished, while the Blessed Sac- 
rament is exposed at another altar 
adorned with lights and flowers. 

Good Friday. 

Good Friday sees the Cross, which 
has been covered from Passion Sunday 
on, unveiled with befitting ceremony. 
The Cross is venerated by the priests 
and the people. The Mass on Good 
Friday is called the Mass of the Pre- 
Sanctified, because the consecration of 
the host has taken place on the preced- 
ing day. 

Holy Saturday. 

On Holy Saturday, new fire is struck 
from a flint and blessed. From this all 
the lights in the sanctuary are lighted. 
The Paschal Candle is blessed. Twelve 
prophecies concerning the coming of 
the Messiah are read in order. The 
Baptismal Font is blessed, and the 
Litanies of the Saints are recited. 

The Resurrection. 

Easter Sunday celebrates the day on 
which Jesus Christ arose alive from the 
grave where he had been laid on Good 
Friday. Our observance of this glor- 
ious feast "should confirm our faith 
in Jesus Christ and in His Church, 
and we should by our Easter Com- 
munion pass over from the death of 
sin to the new life of grace." 

The third Sunday after Easter is 
the feast of the Patronage of St. 



380 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Joseph, when that great saint and fos- 
ter father of our Savior is honored as 
the Patron of the Universal Church. 

The Ascension. 

Ascension Day is the day on which 
we remember the ascension of our 
Blessed Lord into Heaven. This is a 
holy day of obligation. It was on the 
fortieth day after His resurrection that 
our Lord, in sight of His apostles and 
others, rose by His own power to 
Heaven, to take His place at the right 
hand of God, the Father Almighty. 
The forty days between His resurrec- 
tion and His ascension had been passed 
by him on earth — to prove that He 
was truly risen from the dead and to 
instruct His Apostles. 

Pentecost. 

At the time of His ascension, our 
Lord promised His disciples to send 
the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of Truth, 
who would abide with them forever. 
Therefore, ten days after the ascension, 
the Holy Ghost descended upon each 
of the Apostles and the Mother of God 
in the form of tongues of fire, whereby 
the one true, Holy Catholic and Apos- 
tolic Church of Christ was really estab- 
lished on that day, which is called 
Pentecost Sunday. 

Rogation Days. 

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 
before Ascension Day are termed Roga- 
tion Days, and are observed as days of 
solemn supplication and prayer 

Corpus Christi. 

Although the institution of the 
Blessed Sacrament is celebrated on 



Holy Thursday, yet, as during Holy 
Week, the Church considers mainly 
the Passion of Our Lord, another day 
has been set aside for exclusive atten- 
tion to the Holy Eucharist. This day 
is Corpus Christi Day, which comes on 
the Thursday following the first Sun- 
day after Pentecost. Then the Blessed 
Sacrament is carried in solemn proces- 
sion. This feast dates from the twelfth 
century 

St. Anne. 

In July there are the feasts of the 
Visitation of Our Blessed Lady to her 
cousin St Elizabeth (July 2d), of Our 
Lady of Mt. Carmel (July 16th), and 
of St Anne, mother of the Holy Virgin 
(July 26th). 

The Assumption. 

August 15th is the date of one of the 
six holy days of obligation, the feast 
being that of the Assumption of Our 
Lady. We believe that the Blessed Vir- 
gin Mother's body was, after her death, 
miraculously preserved from corrup- 
tion and immediately, or almost im- 
mediately, united to Her soul in 
Heaven. To this belief Holy Church 
testifies by the celebration of the feast 
of the Assumption, a celebration which 
can be traced back to the fifth century. 

A Birthday. 

In September we find the feasts of 
the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin 
(September 8th) and of the Holy 
Name of Mary (September 12th), as 
well as the second feast of the Seven 
Dolors of Our Lady (September 15th). 

On the first Sunday in October, we 
celebrate the feast of the Holy Rosary, 



EXPLANATION OF OUR DEVOTIONS. 381 



which is also the particular devotion 
during the month. 

The Rosary. 

The Rosary, as every Catholic knows, 
is a most salutary and satisfying devo- 
tion. It is made up of fifteen decades, 
divided into five Joyful, five Sorrowful, 
and five Glorious mysteries, which 
make up a complete meditation on the 
great facts in the life of our Lord and 
the life of His Mother, as follows : 

The Joyful Mysteries (The Early 
Life of Jesus) : 1. The Annunciation. 
2. The Visitation. 3. The Birth of 
Our Divine Lord. 4. The Presenta- 
tion of the Infant Jesus at the Temple 
by His Blessed Mother. 5. The 
Finding of the Youthful Jesus in the 
Temple. 

The Sorrowful Mysteries (The Pub- 
lic Life of Jesus) : 1. Our Lord's 
Agony in the Garden. 2. The Scourg- 
ing of Our Lord at the Pillar. 3. The 
Crowning of Our Lord with Thorns. 

4. The Carrying of the Cross by Our 
Lord. 5. The Crucifixion. 

The Glorious Mysteries (Beginning 
with and following the Resurrection of 
Jesus) : 1. The Resurrection of Our 
Lord. 2. The Ascension of Our Lord 
into Heaven. 3. The Descent of the 
Holy Ghost. 4. The Assumption of 
the Blessed Virgin into Heaven. 

5. The Coronation of the Blessed 
Virgin. 

When saying the Rosary on Monday, 
say the Joyful Mysteries. Tuesday, 
say the Sorrowful Mysteries. "Wednes- 
day, say the Glorious Mysteries. 
Thursday, say the Joyful Mysteries. 
Friday, say the Sorrowful Mysteries. 



Saturday, say the Glorious Mysteries. 
On Sundays, from the first Sunday in 
Advent to Lent, say the Joyful Mys- 
teries. On Sundays, from Lent to 
Easter, say the Sorrowful Mysteries. 
On Sundays, from Easter to Advent, 
say the Glorious Mysteries. 

All Saints. 

The Catholic year 's fourth Holy Day 
of obligation is celebrated on November 
1st, All Saints. We then thank God, 
as the author of all sanctity, for the 
grace given by Him to His Saints; we 
recall the doctrine of the Communion 
of Saints ; and we resolve to imitate the 
Saints' blessed example. This feast, 
too, is a very ancient one. 

All Souls Day. 

On the day after all Saints', on No- 
vember 2d, known as All Souls' Day, 
we remember all the souls of the faith- 
ful departed who are still in Purga- 
tory. Praying for the dead is one of 
the foremost duties — and privileges — 
of the true Catholic, since we can help 
the souls in Purgatory by the offering 
of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, by 
the gaining of Indulgences to be ap- 
plied to their benefit, and by the per- 
formance of other good works. So the 
true Catholic should pray for the dead 
not only on All Soul's Day, but every 
day of the year. 

Advent. 

Advent begins usually about Decem- 
ber first and continues until Christmas 
Eve (December 24th). Advent means 
"coming," and describes the time 
which closely precedes the birth of Our 



382 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Lord, the Savior of the "World. Dur- 
ing this time Holy Church wishes her 
children to practice fasting, works of 
penance, meditation, and prayer — in 
proper preparation for the coming of 
Jesus at Christmas. The celebration 
of this season — during which the of- 
fices and ceremonies of the Church are 
extremely beautiful, and during which 
the Gospels tell us of the second ad- 
vent of Our Lord, the Last Judgment, 
for which we must prepare throughout 
life — existed in the Church as early as 
the third, or even the second, century. 

The Immaculate Conception. 

The Patronal feast of our own coun- 
try is one of the six great holy days of 
obligation, and comes on December 
8th, when the whole Catholic world 
celebrates joyfully the Immaculate 
Conception of the Blessed Virgin 
Mary, Mother of God. This holy dogma 
is an article of faith, one of the won- 
drous truths which every Catholic 
must believe (and does believe) with 
all his heart and soul. It means that 
the Most Holy Virgin was always ab- 
solutely free from sin ; that, from the 
first moment of her life, when she was 
conceived by her mother, St. Anne, 
she was immaculate, unstained by the 
taint of original sin — through a spe- 
cial miracle of God who could not be 
born of a mother subject to Satan at 
any time, however brief. As has been 
said above, the glorious feast of the 
Immaculate Conception is the titular, 
or patronal, feast of the Church in 
America. Let us then do our best, as 
the parishioners of the Immaculate 
Conception, as children of Mary Im- 



maculate, do our best to love, honor, 
and serve Our Blessed Lady from the 
first day of the year to the last. 

The Birth of Jesus. 

And now, on Saturday, December 
25th, arrives the feast of feasts, Christ- 
mas, the day on which our Savior 
Jesus Christ was born — in a stable at 
Bethlehem. In honor of this event of 
supreme joy, priests are permitted to 
say three Masses on Christmas Day, in- 
stead of the one Mass they say on week 
days and of the two Masses which may 
be said by them on Sundays and Holy 
Days of obligation, when there is need 
of more Masses than the usual ones 
to enable the faithful to fulfill their 
obligation. The Midnight Mass, which 
is permitted in some dioceses, reminds 
us that our Savior came into the 
world in the darkness of night. 

Christmas — being a time of "Glory 
to God in the highest, and on earth 
peace to men of good will," a time of 
joy, love and friendship — is marked by 
the custom of making gifts to our dear 
and near ones. The Christmas tree, 
with its many lights, the singing of 
hymns and carols in the streets, the 
giving of Christmas dinners to the poor 
— these are some of the features of 
Christmas celebration 

Unquestionably, Christmas is, indeed, 
the feast of feasts. And, of course, it 
is a holy day of obligation for every 
Catholic. 

Let us end with a brief mention of 
the Church's law regarding Fasting 
and Abstinence, Ember Days, Mar- 
riages and Movable and Immovable 
Feasts. 



EXPLANATION OF OUR DEVOTIONS. 383 



Fasts. 

Fasting and Abstinence. — The law 
of fasting and abstinence is read each 
year at the begining of Lent. By a 
special indult, our Holy Father, the 
Pope, grants to workingmen and 
their families the privilege of eating 
meat once a day on all days through- 
out the year, except : — All Fridays of 
the year, Ash Wednesday, Wednesday 
and Saturday in Holy Week, Vigil of 
Christmas, December 24th. 

Just under what conditions this dis- 
pensation to workingmen may be ap- 
plied is something which the individual 
should not decide for himself. In all 
cases consult your confessor. 

Ember Days. 

Ember Days. — The Wednesday, 
Friday and Saturday which follows 
December 13th, the first Sunday in 
Lent, Pentecost and September 14th 
are days of fasting and abstinence. 
These days were observed at Rome in 
St. Augustine's time, and St. Leo 
ascribes an apostolic origin to the fast. 
The object is to purify our souls and 
to do penance as we begin each quar- 
ter of the (ecclesiastical) year, which 
begins with Advent. 

Forbidden Time For Marriages. 

Marriages. — The solemnization of 
marriages is forbidden in Lent from 
Ash Wednesday to Low Sunday; and 
again in Advent, from the first day up 
to the close of the year 

Feasts — Movable and Immovable. 
Easter Date. 

The year's feasts are, for the most 
part, fixed for certain days. These are 
known. Other feasts, because of the 



fact that they have some connection 
with a celebration of the Old Law, are 
dependent upon that celebration. Eas- 
ter is an example. The arrangement 
of this feast has its origin in the 
feast of the Pasch or Passover in the 
Old Law. The passing of the Hebrews 
out of the land of Egypt recalls the 
story of the Angel who made this pos- 
sible, on the night when first the moon 
was at the full, following the vernal 
equinox, March 21. The Pasch was al- 
ways celebrated by the Jews in this 
same way to commemorate this fact. 
Jesus celebrated this feast with His 
Apostles the night before He died. He 
rose from the dead on the Sunday fol- 
lowing. Hence Easter Sunday fol- 
lows the first full moon after March 
21. The forty days of Lent and the 
three Sundays preceding Lent date 
back in this same arrangement. 

Arrangement of the Gospel. 

It will be noted sometimes that the 
Gospel read in the Mass on certain 
Sundays in late fall is taken from the 
Gospel of the Sundays after Epiphany. 
That means that the movable feast 
(Easter) dates earlier than usual. The 
Sunday arrangement of Gospel selec- 
tions, for the Sundays thus cut off, is 
rearranged, and read just before the 
last Sunday after Pentecost. 

Monthly Devotions. 

Particular devotions are assigned to 
each month as follows : 

January — The Holy Name of Jesus. 
February — Our Lady of Sorrows. 
March — St. Joseph. April — Our Sav- 
ior's Passion. May — Our Blessed 
Lady. June — The Sacred Heart of 



384 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Jesus. July — The Precious Blood. 
August — The Blessed Sacrament. Sep- 
tember — The Holy Angels. October — 
The Holy Rosary. November — The 
Souls in Purgatory. December — The 
Coming of Jesus Christ. 

The Stations of the Cross. 

The Stations of the Cross are a de- 
votional exercise, by which the partici- 
pants in a manner follow our Lord 
through His passion and meditate on 
the most prominent features of it. By 
His passion is understood the time that 
elapsed and the scenes intervening be- 
tween His agony in the garden of Geth- 
semani and His death upon the cross. 

There has always been a great desire 
on the part of the faithful to go ever 
the same ground and meditate on what 
took place during the last moments of 
our Lord's stay on earth. The custom 
of doing this first arose among the peo- 
ple of Jerusalem, and was probably 
begun by the Blessed Virgin herself. 
Afterwards pilgrims from all over the 
world flocked to Jerusalem for this 
purpose. But as the distance was far 
and many could not go, the idea of 
journeying in spirit through the pas- 
sion was conceived and introduced into 
Spain. The most important scenes of 
the passion were typified by stations 
or little chapels which served to recall 
in a vivid manner the actual occur- 
rences. From there the practice was 
introduced into Italy and thence 
spread throughout the Catholic world. 

In our churches they are represented 
generally by pictures or groups of sta- 
tuary figures, fourteen in number, each 
portraying a particular scene in our 



Lord's way to Calvary. As he jour- 
neyed from place to place, the devotion 
is more properly called the "Way of 
the Cross." In imitation of His jour- 
ney we go around the Church. 

To make the Stations of the Cross, 
therefore, is to go around the Church, 
stop at the different pictures or sta- 
tions, say appropriate prayers and 
meditate on the event which that pic- 
ture or station conveys to the mind. It 
is following in spirit our divine Savior 
jn the last trying moments of His 
earthly career. 

In performing this devotion we must 
move from station to station, and make 
a short meditation on the subject which 
each represents. This is not necessary 
when a number make it publicly to- 
gether. One goes around the stations 
while the others remain in their places. 
The necessary prayers and meditations 
are found in all prayer books. To gain 
the indulgences, the regular prayers 
at the end, for the intention of the 
Holy Father, must be said — generally 
five Our Fathers and five Hail Mary's 
and the Glory be to the Father. 

There are crucifixes specially blessed 
by those who have authority, which are 
intended for the sick or those who can- 
not come to the Church By holding 
such a crucifix in the hand and reciting 
the Our Father, Hail Mary and the 
Glory twenty times, and at the same 
time meditating on the Passion, the in- 
dulgences may be gained. Fourteen of 
these are for the Stations proper, five 
in honor of the Five Wounds of our 
Lord, and one for the intention of our 
Holy Father. (Catholic Belief and 
Practice. ) 



EXPLANATION OF OUR DEVOTIONS. 385 



The Missal — Mass Prayers. 

The Missal contains the prayers said 
by the priest at the altar as well as all 
that is officially read or sung in con- 
nection with the offering of the Holy 
Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the 
year. 

The Mass is made up of prayers 
which are the same throughout the 
year, with others which change accord- 
ing to feast or season. The Canon of 
the Mass, for instance, the prayers said 
from the Sanctus to Communion in- 
clusive, remains the same always. Each 
Mass consists of the Introit, the Collect, 
the Epistle, Gradual and Alleluia, Gos- 
pel, Offertory, Secret, Communion and 
Post-Communion. In addition, of 
course, there are the prayers said by 
the priest at the foot of the altar as 
well as those said after Mass. Then the 
Credo is said on the greater feasts, and 
there is the Last Gospel, usually that 
according to St. John. The arrange- 
ment of the prayers at Mass can be 
found in almost every prayer-book, in 
convenient translation. 

The Missal begins with the Catholic 
year on the first Sunday of Advent. 
The Masses appropriate to the time 
begin with this first Sunday and carry 
on in order throughout the year, pass- 
ing through Advent, Christmas and the 
Sundays attached, Lent, the Resurrec- 
tion period, and the Sundays after 
Pentecost. Then, there are Masses ap- 
propriate to the greater feasts of the 
Church, such as Christmas, Easter, the 
Feasts of Our Lord and of the Blessed 
Virgin. There are the Masses of the 
Sainta, who in some cases have prayers 



of their own, and sometimes have the 
Masses made up from prayers proper 
to their class. Votive Masses and 
Masses for the Dead are to be found 
also, the latter arranged to suit Fu- 
nerals, Months' Minds and Anniver- 
saries. 

The Missal of today originated in the 
latter part of the Middle Ages from 
separate service books then in use. At 
this time, each priest wrote his own 
Missal in the laborious manuscript of 
the period, or, at least, the parts to be 
said by him which could not be found 
in current manuscripts, such as the 
common " Antiphonarium Missae." 
The "Stowe Missal" is a treasure of 
this period, still in existence. St. Gall 
left some excellent specimens. 3?he 
eleventh century produced many, while 
relics of more ancient manuscripts are 
still existing. 

In print the Missal first appeared in 
1474, in Milan. Under the supervision 
of the Church a revised edition ap- 
peared in 1570, with positive regula- 
tions. All were obliged to use this 
edition, unless they could show a pre- 
scription of more than two hundred 
years. In this way the slight variation 
in rubrical observance to be noted in 
some religious orders may be explained. 
The Dominicans and the Carthusians 
retain their ancient liturgical usages, 
for instance. These slight differences 
are noticeable in indifferent matters, 
the essential parts of the Mass remain- 
ing always the same. 

The Breviary— The Office of the 
Priest. 

By the Breviary is popularly known 



386 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



the office which the priest is obliged to 
recite each day. This is one of the ob- 
ligations he assumes. In the Breviary 
are to be found prayers, hymns, selec- 
tions from the Bible and litanies, all 
arranged in appropriate remembrance 
of the feast of the day, or of the sea- 
son. For convenience the Breviary is 
arranged in four volumns, one for each 
season. In each diocese an Ordo is is- 
sued each year containing instructions 
which serve the priest. 

The Breviary consists, first, of 150 
Psalms which were the ground work of 
the liturgy of the Jews, and which 
were used by Jesus and the Apostles. 
Added to these are some Christian 
Psalms, such as the Te Deum and 
Gloria in Excelsis. Some psalms in ar- 
rangement provide morning prayers, 
some night prayers, some prayers for 
the dead, etc. When saying all the 
psalms each day the custom arose of 
saying certain ones at different periods 
of the day. The foundation of the 
present system is traced to St. Bene- 
dict. Second, there is the "Proper to 
the Season," such as Christmas, Lent v 
Holy Week, Advent, etc. Feasts such 
as Christmas and Easter have their 
succeeding period of rejoicing (Oc- 
taves) just as they have their periods 
f preparation and the Office is ar- 
ranged appropriately with special les- 
sons, extracts from the Gospel. Then 
there is the "Proper of the Saints," 
with extracts from the lives of the 
Saints, or from the Bible, with anti- 
phons and prayers appropriate. A 
great majority of the days of the years 
are so arranged. The "Communion of 
the Saints" means lessons, extracts 



from the gospels and antiphons not re- 
served for special occasions, but which 
are appropriate to all saints so classi- 
fied. For instance there are ' ' Common 
Prayers," for Apostles, Evangelists, 
Martyrs, Confessors, non-Pontiffs, Ab- 
botts, Virgins and Holy Women. In 
addition there is the Office for Dedica- 
tion of a Church, and of the Blessed 
Virgin and for the Dead. 

The Office is divided into separate 
parts, all of which must be recited 
within twenty-four hours,— Matins, 
Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Ves- 
pers and Compline. Originally the ar- 
rangement was to recite Matins, in the 
three parts into which it is divided 
(Nocturns), in the three watches of 
the night. Lauds was to be said at 
dawn, Prime at six o'clock, Terce at 
nine, Sext at twelve, None at three, 
Vespers at six and Compline at night- 
fall. This is still kept up in certain 
religious communities At fixed hours 
during the day the members of com- 
munities meet in the chapel to recite 
the different parts of the Office as out- 
lined This is called recitation in 
Choir, the community dividing in parts 
on each side of the sanctuary and recit- 
ing alternate verses 

In America and elsewhere the priest 
in active work in parishes was forced 
into conditions which meant the 
gradual change from this system. 
Today, permission is granted to recite 
Matins and Lauds on the afternoon or 
evening of the previous day, if desired. 
But the obligation holds strictly to the 
recitation of all within twenty-four 
hours. Obligation does not attach to 
the actual time mentioned above for 



EXPLANATION OF OUR DEVOTIONS. 387 



each part. Vespers may be recited 
after noon, and Matins and Lauds may 
be anticipated, as it is called, to meet 
the insistent demands upon the priests ' 
time. 

The Sabbath and Sunday. 

The Sabbath day means a day of 
rest. The day of the week (Saturday) 
which the Israelites observed as their 
Sabbath seems to have been pointed 
out for them by the giving of manna as 
their daily bread (Ex. xvi.). God sent 
it first on the day we now call Sunday, 
and told Moses that the people should 
gather it every day for six days, but 
on the seventh day they should find 
none, for that was to be their day of 
rest. Deharbe, in his catechism, sug- 
gests that the Sabbath-day was so held 
in memory of God's resting on the day 
after He had finished the work of crea- 
tion. 

The early Christians felt that they 
were not bound by the law of the Jew- 
ish Sabbath after the Church had been 
established. It was one of the things 
done away with by the Gospel (Col. ii, 
16, 17), and the Lord's day (Rev. i, 
10) took its place, not so much as a 
day of rest, but rather as the great 
weekly day of worship, that is, of the 
offering of the Eucharist (Acts xx, 7). 
The Church 's application of the fourth 
commandment is that we should faith- 
fully observe all the holy days of ob- 
ligation and seek to do our earthly duty 
faithfully on all other days. Sundays 
are counted as days of obligation, that 
is, days on which all Catholics are 
obliged to hear Mass. It was on Sun- 
day that Christ rose from the dead, and 



it was also on Sunday that He sent the 
Holy Ghost upon His apostles. In 
order properly to sanctify this day, or, 
as the commandment puts it, to keep 
it holy, we are bound to attend Mass 
as our most important religious serv- 
ice. Other methods recommended, 
after the first requirement is complied 
with, are the hearing of a sermon or of 
a catechetical instruction, to receive 
Holy Communion, the reading of 
books of devotion, meditation, or to 
occupy ourselves in works of mercy, 
corporal or spiritual Our regular em- 
ployment is forbidden, unless practi- 
cally unavoidable. 

Abuse of Sunday Observance. 

Besides the different methods of pro- 
faning the Sunday, suggested above, 
there are other sins committed against 
the due and proper observance of the 
Lord's Day, such as intemperance, ex- 
travagant attention to games, sports 
and amusements, which give great scan- 
dal. All such thoughtlessness or down- 
right neglect of God's law is sinful, 
and, therefore, to be discouraged. There 
is no foundation in the Church's law 
for what has popularly come to be 
known as the Puritan Sunday. There 
are no such restrictions placed upon 
people. Recreation, mild forms of 
amusements, innocent pastimes are not 
held strictly as breaking the law. It 
is only excess that is condemned. Mod- 
eration is the idea extended to all our 
people. And such moderation must be 
held in mind always, not only because 
it is proper in the due fulfillment of the 
law, but because the observance of Sun- 
day, as the Church outlines it, is a pro- 



388 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



fession of our Christian Faith. To pro- 
fane the Sunday brings disgrace upon 
our religion, gives great scandal to all 
and tends to break down that for which 
the Church stands, the one day given 
over to the care of our immortal soul. 
We have six days to care for the body 
and its needs Let us never be induced 
to violate the seventh day by any ex- 
cessive fondness for or any undue dis- 
play of attention to idle amusements, 
with the trouble some times ensuing, do 
matter what example may be set by 
wicked people or those who do not be- 
lieve as we do in the Commandments 
of God and of His church. 

Missing Mass in Summer Vacation. 

When people miss Mass on the Sun- 
days of their vacation period, because 
there is no Church in the place where 
they stayed, are they guilty of sin or 

not? 

This is a question frequently asked, 
after the vacation is over, of course. 
First, they should be asked whether 
they knew before they chose the place 
that there was no church there. If 
they simply did not bother enquiring 
about such a grave matter, they must 
understand that to miss Mass on Sun- 
days and holy days of obligation with- 
out a serious excuse is a mortal sin each 
time. The teaching of the Church on 
this point from the earliest times is 
strong, as seen from the various Coun- 
cils. "He who shall on a holy day ab- 
sent himself from the solemn gathering 
of the people and go to the public show 
shall be excommunicated." (Council 
of Carthage). 

On the other hand, one may have 



very good reasons for choosing to spend 
his vacations where he did, even though 
he foresaw that he would have to miss 
Mass. For instance, if relatives or 
friends live in the country and they in- 
vite him to visit them, he would be per- 
mitted to go under the circumstances 
mentioned. A woman may not want to 
visit in a public place and might be 
permitted to visit with her friends and 
relations where there is no church, for 
company and protection. Such and 
similar good reasons will suffice to 
allow people to miss Mass on vacation. 

Another case of missing Mass on 
Sunday arises when one goes away, 
either on Saturday afternoon or early 
Sunday morning on an outing, or to 
visit friends, or on a pleasure trip. 
This case involves greater difficulty, 
and is something that should be done 
very rarely, if at all. Recreation is 
necessary for the worker, but seldom 
should it happen that Mass be neg- 
lected in these days, when the hours of 
Masses are arranged by thoughtful 
pastors in such way as to meet all the 
demands made upon people. Early and 
late they are so planned, and there are 
few places where one cannot satisfy the 
obligation of hearing Mass, and then 
take the recreation suggested. 

And summer resorts are few where 
there is no opportunity of hearing 
Mass. There is such choice in selec- 
tion that one need not be forced to se- 
lect a place where the hearing of Mass 
is impossible. Make it at least as im- 
portant in the consideration as any 
other feature, and let it weigh even 
more seriously in the selection, because 



EXPLANATION OF OUR DEVOTIONS. 389 



of the importance of the Command- 
ment. 

Church Music. 

The Church of Christ was the first 
to fully understand the power and 
charm of music upon the heart, and the 
first to cultivate it as a means of man- 
ifesting the devout emotions of the 
human soul in worshiping the great 
Creator. "Nothing," says St. John 
Chrysostom, "so exalts the mind and 
gives it, as it were, wings — so delivers it 
from the earth and loosens it from the 
bonds of the body — so inspires it with 
the love of wisdom and fills it with such 
disdain for the things of life as the 
melody and sweetness of holy song." 
(Hon. in Ps. xii, 1.) 

In the early days of the Church her 
music was simple but soothing and in- 
vigorating. The catacombs resounded 
with the subdued voices of the primi- 
tive Christians. Pliny mentions this 
in his letter to the Emperor Trajan. 
As time went on the music of the 
Church received the most careful cul- 
tivation from such holy and learned 
men as Saints Cyprian, Athanasius, 
Ambrose, Augustine, Pope Damasus 
and Pope Gregory the Great. Under 
the latter it reached a high degree of 
perfection. His sublime music, called 
Gregorian or Plain Chant, is the true 
music of the Church. 

There are two kinds of music ap- 
proved by the Church for Divine serv- 
ice, simple and harmonized Gregorian, 
or plain and figured music. The Church 
clings to the plain Gregorian. It is as 
truly a masterpiece as are any of the 
works of the great masters. The sec- 



ond kind is the harmonized Gregorian 
which includes all Church music writ- 
ten in the spirit and in imitation of the 
Great Master. Under this style is found 
requirements of the Church, in that 
its music be devout, distinct and clear, 
and intelligible. It does not mutilate 
the words nor repeat them unneces- 
sarily. It leaves the meaning clear 
and unchanged, neither adding any- 
thing nor taking from it. 

Too often our choir singers attempt 
to introduce music decidedly opposed 
to the idea of the Church. Giddy, 
sensuous airs from the opera and the 
stage are offered. Music composed by 
men who know little, and care less, of 
the things of God, would be introduced 
if choristers had their way. The Coun- 
cil of Baltimore (C. B. Ill, 117) for- 
bids all such abuse in America. Arias, 
duets and trios are forbidden. Many 
Masses by Beethoven, (except his Mass 
in C), by Mozart (except the eighth 
and ninth in F and D), by Haydn, 
Mercadante and others, are either pro- 
fane and worldly or at least not liturgi- 
cal and should not be sung in a Cath- 
olic Church. 

The American St. Cecilia Society is 
an organization formed to help organ- 
ists in selecting proper and fitting 
church music. Congregational singing 
is encouraged. The children are en- 
couraged in singing, especially in 
places where there is a Mass arranged 
on Sundays especially for them. On 
such occasions the hymns to be found 
in St. Basil's Hymn-book and in other 
excellent approved publications are 
used. Seldom are hymns in the ver- 
nacular sung at other times at Mass, 



390 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



however. All hymns and church music 
must be rendered in the language of the 
Church as a general rule. On occa- 
sions of funerals and weddings popular 
sentimental songs should never be used. 
"0 Promise Me," and "Face to Face" 
are instances of popular abuse. Let the 
end of all Church music be an increase 
of devotion in those who sing and in 
those who listen, rendering their affec- 
tions more pure and holy. This in sub- 
stance was the recommendation of the 
Gregorian Music Congress held in New 
York in 1920, in which it was recom- 
mended that children and congrega- 
tions be taught. Dom Mocquereau, 0. 
S. B., was in charge. 

Mixed Choirs. 

The Church has in mind to have the 
liturgical choir of male voices only. 
There are many reasons for this desire. 
But, in many cases, this is not possi- 
ble. The only way to introduce music 
in some places is to fall back upon the 
ever-ready co-operation of women. 
Thus a decree of the Sacred Congrega- 
tion of Rites, January, 1908, allows 
women to sing the common of Mass. 
Under conditions it also permits mixed 
choirs, "omnino separati." 

The original Motu Proprio of Pope 
Pius X, however, holds the ideal of the 
Church music. In all respects, save for 
the concessions mentioned above, it 
continues operative. 

Covetousness. 

No better exposition of a besetting 
sin has been noted for some time than 
the following from the pages of The 
Missionary, published in Washington, 



under the auspices of Catholic mis- 
sions in foreign lands: 

"At all times covetousness has been 
one of the besetting sins of mankind, 
and in every generation it has cast its 
blight upon the happiness of thousands, 
impeding the moral growth of the 
world. It is a plant that grows wher- 
ever men meet, it thrives in every 
clime, and once it has taken root it be- 
comes almost impossible to stop its 
growth. So disastrous is it that God 
had made its elimination the object of 
one of His commandments. We are 
not forbidden, of course, legitimate de- 
sires and honest ambitions. Work, 
we know, is not a curse, but a blessing, 
and he who through the employment 
of his God-given powers seeks to satisfy 
his ambitions does his duty and 
achieves a full measure of contentment 
The only restrictions put upon man is 
to do his work honestly and not to in- 
fringe upon the rights of his fellow 
man, but to do this we must guard 
against covetousness, which is the ob- 
ject of the commandment "thou shalt 
not covet. ' ' 

As a vice covetousness is most debas- 
ing in its effects upon ourselves and it 
creates a suffering out of all propor- 
tion to the thing desired. Foolishly we 
imagine that our happiness cannot be 
complete unless we add to our posses- 
sion that which someone else happens 
to have. Unable to realize our desire 
we begrudge our neighbor not only his 
possessions but his happiness. In time 
this leads to hate, and the poison of 
hatred fills our whole being and em- 
bitters our existence. 

What we call desires appears to lie 



EXPLANATION OF OUR DEVOTIONS. 391 



in a great measure at the foundation of 
character, and for a sound moral reason 
it is required that the desires be di- 
rected to worthy objects and that the 
degree or strength of the desires be 
accommodated to the true and relative 
value of each of these objects. If the 
desires are thus directed, worthy con- 
duct will be likely to follow in a steady 
and uniform manner. If they are al- 
lowed to break from these restraints of 
reason and moral principles, man is 
left at the mercy of unhallowed pas- 
sion and is liable to those irregularities 
which naturally result from such a de- 
rangement of moral feelings. If free 
rein is given desire, if there be no 
tribunal within us to check it, gross 
covetousness must result and moral 
failure will be the outcome. A glance 
at history will convince one of the ruin 
that uncontrolled desire has wrought. 
A glance at our own time will bring 
home to us the sad havoc that greed 
and avarice is working with the lives 
both of individuals and nations. 

Self Restraint. 

It is the duty of parents to teach 
their children the need of self-restraint. 
Neglect on the part of parents to do 
so will endanger their children's happi- 
ness, for the selfishness of the world 
will find them unprepared. Children 
ought to be trained at an early age in 
lessons of self-denial and sacrifice. 
' ' Train up a child in the way he should 
go and when he is old he will not de- 
part from it." To gratify the most 
unreasonable demands of children is a 
mistaken kindness that encourages 
them in their selfishness. As they grow 



into manhood and womanhood they will 
find it most difficult to curb their de- 
sires and to sacrifice the lower for the 
higher demands of life. Though the 
Divine command, "Thou shalt not 
covet," is negative in form, it teaches 
a positive lesson. We must seek to 
overcome all feelings of envy and learn 
to look with friendly eyes upon the 
happiness of others, being satisfied with 
our own lot. We must cherish the virtue 
of contentment, coupled with good will 
toward others. Covetousness is a viola- 
tion of that divine ideal of mutual re- 
lations that should obtain between man 
and man. Love your fellowman and you 
will not covet his possessions. ' ' 

Summer Religion. 

Too strong insistence cannot be 
placed upon the importance of faith- 
ful attention to religious duties during 
the period which is known as the sum- 
mer months. For a variety of reasons 
it is more difficult to do so than in win- 
ter, when we are carried along by the 
routine of home life. We have to face 
changed conditions of weather and sur- 
roundings, and it is hard at times to 
adjust ourselves to the change. The 
weather as a rule is trying and pro- 
duces lassitude. Then there is the dis- 
sipation of mind engendered by idle- 
ness and the unceasing round of gay, 
even when unsinful, amusement. We 
are thrown, too, into more intimate 
contact with non-Catholics, to the no 
small detriment of our religious ob- 
servances ; and to go at once to the root 
of the difficulty in passing holily as 
well as pleasantly and profitably the 
summer vacation, we are either living 



392 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



far away from a church, or if near one, 
our visits are more infrequent than in 
the city. 

But why should Catholics who are 
free to make a choice select summer re- 
sorts where they are barred from hear- 
ing Mass? In so doing they incur a 
serious responsibility. They deliber- 
ately sacrifice all the grace, all the 
strength and consolation that come 
from attendance at Holy Mass, the re- 
ception of Holy Communion and visits 
to the Blessed Sacrament. 

Even when the church is accessible, 
there remains another difficulty which 
may be ascribed to thoughtlessness 
rather than lack of good will. It is 
neglect to find out in due season the lo- 
cation of the church and the time of 
Mass. So neglect results either in com- 
ing late for Mass or missing it alto- 
gether. 

The Holy Guardian Angels. 

The devotion to our Guardian Angel 
is, after devotion to Mary, the most 
sweet and consoling. Day and night 
a being is by our side, to whose special 
care God has confided us, and who, 
faithful to his mission, leaves us not, 
and each instant studies our true hap- 
piness and tries to advance it. It is an 
angel. He is invisible to our eyes, but 
when we are pure and innocent we 
seem to feel his presence in a special 
manner. If we think often of him and 
try to establish between him and our- 
selves those intimate relations of true 
friendship, which the most loving hu- 
man hearts often fail to give, we seem 
to be alwa3 r s happy and content. This 
thought is not the product of a sensi- 



tive heart or a vivid imagination, it is 
supported by a belief of the Church 
and the testimony of the saints. 

"In whatever house, in whatever re- 
treat you be, respect your good angel, 
for he is there present, he is close to 
you; not only is he with you, but he 
is there for you; he seeks to protect 
and be useful to you.'' (St. Bernard.) 

"With an angel beside you, what 
need you fear? Your angel will not 
let himself be conquered or deceived; 
he is faithful, prudent and powerful; 
why then should you fear?" (St. Ber- 
nard.) 

0, my good Angel, whom God in His 
Divine Providence has appointed to be 
my guardian, enlighten, protect, direct 
and govern me. Amen. (100 days' in- 
dulgence each time ; plenary indul- 
gence once a month.) 

The feast of the Holy Guardian 
Angels is on October second. 

The Magi. 

There is no more interesting feature 
of that wonderful story of our Savior's 
birth than that of the Magi, those si- 
lent men who appeared suddenly, com- 
ing from the mythological east, drawn 
by a Star, coming to adore Him, "who 
was born king of the Jews." This is 
a narrative of fact supported by all 
writings of the Fathers on the subject. 
Herodotus is authority for the state- 
ment that the Magi were of the sacred 
caste of the Medes, which was supposed 
to be flourishing at the time. None of 
the Fathers hold them to have been 
kings, which is a popular idea, although 
their rank was very near to the regal. 
Some Fathers speak of three Magi, 



EXPLANATION OF OUR DEVOTIONS. 393 



an idea perhaps supplied by the num- 
ber of gifts, although the Gospel narra- 
tive is silent on this point. Their 
names are uncertain. Early paintings 
show difference on this point as well 
as in number. Among the Latin 
writers Gaspar, Melchior and Bal- 
thasar are the names which have the 
best authority. Martyrology mentions 
these names among its list of saints. 
Legends mention that the Magi repre- 
sent the different families which des- 
cended from Noah, but there is no 
authority for this. Neither is it certain 
that they came from the different 
places usually assigned to them. Their 
visit took place after the presentation 
in the Temple, and just preceded the 
flight into Egypt. This was probably 
about a year after the birth of Christ. 
The distance from Persia, whence the 
Magi are supposd to have come, is from 
one thousand to twelve hundred miles. 
It may have taken from three to twelve 
months to make the journey by camel. 
They, therefore, could scarcely have 
reached Jerusalem until a year >r 
more had elapsed since the appearance 
of the Star. There seems to be no doubt 
that a star appeared to them for the 
purpose. They mentioned it, and there 
is no scientific record of the appearance 
of a comet or any large celestial body 
in regular movement corresponding to 
that time. No theories can explain 
how "the star, which they had seen in 
the East, went before them, until it 
came and stood over the place where 
the child was." Matt, ii, 9. Only a 
miraculous phenomenon could have 



been the star of Bethlehem, according 
to authorities. 

The sudden appearance of this star, 
perhaps, suggested to the Magi, well 
versed as they were in astrology, the 
birth of an important person. They 
came to adore Him. They may have 
been familiar with the Messianic 
prophecies concerning the birth of the 
Savior. Some Hebrew traditions cer- 
tainly survived in Persia. And even 
pagan authors bear witness that at the 
time of Christ's birth the whole Roman 
empire was in a state of expectation of 
a great deliverer. We may admit all 
these outside influences as helping the 
Magi to a decision, yet there is noth- 
ing left for us to do but believe that 
they had some Divine revelation 
whereby they knew that "His Star" 
meant the birth of a king, that this 
new born king was God and that they 
should be led by "His Star" to the 
place of the God-king's birth. (Sermon 
by St. Leo, xxxiv, iv, 3. In Epiphany.) 

When the Magi came they caused a 
great stir in the country. They offered 
Him gifts, gold, frankincense and 
myrrh. Such offering of gifts was an 
oriental custom. Symbolic meaning is 
attached to each of these three gifts 
but it is not certain that these mean- 
ings are inspired. (Knabenbauer.) 
They were told in sleep to return by 
another way to their own country, not 
to return to King Herod as he had re- 
quested. There is a tradition that they 
were later baptized by St. Thomas and 
wrought much for the spread of the 
Faith. This is not established. The 
cathedral at Cologne contains what are 
claimed to be the remains of the Magi, 



394 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



said to have been discovered in Persia, 
brought to Constantinople by St. 
Helena, transferred to Milan in the 
fifth century, and to Cologne in 1163. 
(Acta SS., I, 323.) 

Age of The Divine Infant. 

How old was the Infant Savior when 
the wise men came to worship Him? 
is a question one hears regularly. 

The visit of the wise men, according 
to Patrizi, took place after the purifica- 
tion of Our Lady and the presentation 
of the Holy Child in the temple. As 
these ceremonies occurred forty days 
after the nativity, it is clear that the 
Infant Savior was more than a month 
old when the foreign visitors reached 
Bethlehem Some writers, however, 
place their adoration before the puri- 
fication, and others, as Papebroch, at 
one year and thirteen days after 
Christmas. 

St. Nicholas. 

Why is St. Nicholas considered as a 
patron of children, and who was he, is 
a question sometimes asked. 

St. Nicholas was a man of extraor- 
dinary sanctity, as is indicated by the 
great esteem in which he has been held 
by both the Latin and Greek churches. 
As early as the year 430, the Emperor 
Justinian built a church to the honor 
of this saint in Constantinople. Nich- 
olas was born at Patara, in Lycia, 
which was a large ancient province of 
Asia. He became Archibishop of Myra 
in Lycia, and died in the year 342. 
Nicholas, like all the saints, was emi- 
nent in different virtues, but he is es- 
pecially renowned for his great charity 
towards the poor. The Russians hold 



him in the highest esteem. His relics 
were brought to Bari, a seaport in the 
kingdom of Naples, Italy, on the 9th 
of May, 1087. 

St. Nicholas has been venerated as 
a patron of childhood, as he was from 
infancy, a model of innocence and 
purity. The origin of gifts at Christ- 
mas comes from the practice of making 
gifts on the feast of St. Nicholas, which 
preceded our present custom. 

"Banns of Marriage?" 

The banns of marriage are a public 
proclamation that a certain marriage 
is about to take place. To make such 
a proclamation is an old law of the 
Church, and according to it the names 
of the persons to be joined in wedlock 
must be called out in their parish 
church at the principal or parochial 
Mass for three successive Sundays or 
holy days of obligation. The banns 
need not be published in the place of 
their nativity, but in the place where 
they live when getting married. 

If one of the parties lives in one 
parish and the other in another, the 
banns should be published in both. 
The reason of this law is to guard 
against the possibility of marriages 
taking place between those who, accord- 
ing to the rules of the Church, cannot 
be married. There are certain impedi- 
ments which make a marriage null and 
void. The names of the parties are 
made known to the congregation and 
to those who are most likely to know 
if such impediments exist. 

Easter Duty for the Sick. 

The law of going to Communion once 
a year at Easter time is very important 



EXPLANATION OF OUR DEVOTIONS. 395 



and urgent. Complying with it is 
called making one's Easter duty. It 
binds all persons without distinction, 
who have made their first Communion 
and are of sound mind. Even the 
sick and infirm are not exempt. The 
Blessed Sacrament must be brought to 
them. They must notify the priest so 
he can bring them Holy Communion in 
their homes. The duty of notifying 
him rests with the sick or their friends 
or relatives. It is not necessary that 
the sick or infirm be in danger of death. 
It suffices that either on account of 
their sickness or infirmity or the de- 
crepitude of old age, they are unable 
to come to the church. Notice should 
be given the priest in ample time, and 
not put off till the last moment. 

The Month of Mary. 

It has been falsely alleged that the 
Catholic consecration of the month of 
Mary to Mary Immaculate was noth- 
ing more than an imitation or adapta- 
tion of the Roman pagan ideas, accord- 
ing to whose cult May — Maius, in La- 
tin — was the month of the goddess 
Maia, after whom it was named. But 
this allegation is clearly shown to be 
a falsehood by the fact that the Cath- 
olic May devotions did not originate 
until a comparatively recent date, 
many centuries after Christianity had 
done away with Roman paganism. 

' ' It was at the beginning of the pres- 
ent century," says the famous Domini- 
can Father Thomas Burke, "that this 
devotion of the month of Mary sprang 
up in the Catholic Church, and the cir- 
cumstances of its origin are most won- 
derful. Some seventy years ago, a lit- 



tle child on a beautiful day in May 
knelt down and began to lisp the Lit- 
any of the Blessed Virgin before the 
image of the Child in the arms of the 
Madonna in one of the streets of Rome 
.The next evening he was 
there again at the same hour and began 
singing his little Litany again. 

"Another little boy on his passage 
stopped and began singing the re- 
sponses. The next evening three or four 
other children came and knelt before 
the same image of the Blessed Virgin 
and sang the Litany. After a few eve- 
nings, some pious women- and the 
mothers of the children, delighted to 
see the early piety of their sons and 
daughters, came along with them and 
knelt down and blended their voices 
in the Litany; and the priest of the 
neighboring church said : ' ' Come into 
church and I will light a few candles 
on the altar of the Blessed Virgin, and 
we will all sing the Litany together." 
And so they went into the church ; they 
lighted up the candles and knelt and 
there sang the Litany. He spoke a 
few words to them of the Blessed Vir- 
gin, about her patience, her love for 
her Divine Son, and the dutiful rever- 
ence in which she was held by her 
Son. From that hour the devotion of 
the month of Mary spread throughout 
the whole Catholic world ; within a 
few years wherever there was a Cath- 
olic church, a Catholic altar, a Catholic 
priest, or a Catholic to hear and re- 
spond to the Litany, the month of May 
became the month of Mary, the month 
of devotion to the Blessed Virgin. 

Surely, this beautiful devotion should 
be practiced in every Catholic home. 



396 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



It is easy to arrange a little oratory, 
with a statuette or picture of Our 
Lady, and a few lights and flowers, to 
say the Kosary before this oratory, to- 
gether with the Litany of Loretto, and 
to read a chapter of a book lovingly 
devoted to our Queen's graces and 
glories. 

How Bishops Are Selected. 

By a decree of the Congregation of 
the Consistory, July 25, 1916, the tra- 
ditional method of selecting the names 
of those who were to be recommended 
to the Holy Father for appointment as 
Bishops, has been somewhat changed. 
Under the new regulations, the bishops 
of the province are requested to send 
to their metropolitan or archbishop, 
the names of a few priests whom they 
deem worthy of the episcopal office. 
These priests may belong to the diocese 
of the bishop who sends the names or 
they may belong elsewhere. The bishop 
is not circumscribed in his choice. This 
sending in of names which started dur- 
ing the Lenten season of 1917 is to be 
repeated every two years. The bishop 



is expected to confer with the consul- 
tors and permanent rectors in this mat- 
ter, but his final choice does not de- 
pend upon their judgment. When the 
names have been received by the metro- 
politan, he draws up a list in alphabet- 
ical order. After Easter the bishops 
and the metropolitan meet and discuss 
the merits of those whose names have 
been proposed. The discussion is con- 
fined to the fitness of the candidates 
proposed to rule a diocese in the inter- 
ests of God's honor and the Church. 
When the discussion is concluded a 
ballot is taken and the result, together 
with the minutes of the meeting, are 
drawn up and forwarded to the Apos- 
tolic Delegate, who in turn forwards 
the list to the Congregation of the Con- 
sistory. The names are recorded in the 
Vatican archives and in the records 
of the metropolitan and are available 
tc guide and advise the Holy Father in 
the selection of the rulers of the vari- 
ous jurisdictions of the Church. In all 
of the discussions the most absolute and 
inviolable secrecy is observed under 
oath. 



Bibliography. 

Story of the Acts of the Apostles, Lynch; Catholic Christianity, 
Vassall-Phillips; Our Lady in the Church, Nesbitt; O'Brien's His- 
tory of the Mass; The Mass and Vestments of the Church, Walsn; 
Manual of Theology for the Laity, Geierman; Ceremonies Ex- 
plained, Keatinge; Catholic Sick Room, Splaine; Explanations of 
Catholic Worship, Lambert; Catholic Religion, Martin; Testimony 
to the Truth, Smyth; Two Crowded Years. Mundolein; Catechism 
Explained, Spirago-Clarke; Benediction, DeZulueta; Excellence of 
the Rosary, Frings. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



The Sacraments. 

Part 1. — Baptism — Private and Solemn — Duties of Sponsors — Baptism by Im- 
mersion — Confirmation — Extreme Unction — Viaticum — The Last Blessing — The Sick 
Room — End of Life — Holy Orders. 



A sacrament is a visible sign of an 
invisible grace, instituted by Jesus 
Christ for our sanctification. In other 
words, our Lord specified that certain 
outward actions be performed, and if 
they are performed with proper dispo- 
sitions he has promised to impart to 
the soul certain graces. These actions 
or signs coming under the domain of 
the senses, are seven in number, and 
are called Baptism, Confirmation, Holy 
Eucharist, Penance, Extreme Unction, 
Holy Orders and Matrimony. The 
first and fourth impart grace remissive 
of sin ; the others increase the soul 's 
sanctifying grace. 

They are wonderful means for ac- 
quiring sanctity. They are instrument 
of God's choicest blessings. Through 
them moral transgression is forgiven, 
virtue nourished, spiritual strength 
supplied and human nature fortified. 
They are divine institutions, and no 
one can afford to disbelieve in their ef- 
ficacy, nor neglect their use, nor re- 
gard them with disfavor. 

If there is comparison between the 
wants of the soul and body, and it ap- 
pears that there is, it conveys a very 



serious thought. It signifies that the 
person who refuses or neglects to make 
use of the sacraments places his soul, at 
least in a manner, in the same position 
as the body is placed when its natural 
wants are not supplied Hence the ne- 
cessity of making frequent use of these 
sacraments which in the designs of 
Providence are intended as means by 
which we advance toward moral beauty 
of heart and soul 

Baptism. 

Our Lord instituted the Sacrament 
of Baptism having first been baptized 
by St. John. Its reception became ob- 
ligatory on all when He said: "Going, 
therefore, teach ye all nations; baptiz- 
ing them in the name of the Father, 
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost.'' 
It is absolutely necessary to receive it 
as a condition to entrance into the 
Kingdom of God, as we know from 
these words: "Unless a man be born 
again of water and the Holy Ghost, 
he cannot enter into the Kingdom of 
God. " It is the first sacrament in point 
of reception. If validly received it 
washes away original sin and all sins 



398 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



previously committed, provided there 
is proper sorrow for them, bringing the 
recipient into the fold, making him a 
Christian, a child of God and an heir 
of Heaven. There are three kinds of 
Baptism, namely, that of water which 
is ordinarily given ; that of blood which 
is martyrdom for the Christian faith, 
and that of desire which is a longing to 
do all that God has ordained for salva- 
tion, and if we knew what he requires, 
we would willingly do it. But proper 
diligence must be shown in finding out 
the requirements of God for salvation. 

On account of its absolute necessity, 
children are baptized as soon as they 
can be brought to the parish church, 
with safety. This means as soon as pos- 
sible without injuring the child's 
health. There is great danger in delay. 
Parents who postpone the ceremony 
are assuming a great responsibility. 
The ceremonies of Baptism are most 
important and the parents should take 
keen interest in them. The father 
should always be present. It does not 
look well for his faith when he absents 
himself. There should be two sponsors. 
The Christian name should be carefully 
selected and that of a Saint given. 

Private Baptism. 

When Baptism is administered in the 
home, it is called private Baptism and 
no sponsors are necessary. 

A lay person can baptize when nec- 
essary, as in danger of death, and he 
does so by taking water, pouring it on 
the head of the child, and at the same 
time saying with the intention of doing 
what the Church does: "I baptize 
thee in the name of the Father and of 



the Son and of the Holy Ghost, Amen. ' ' 
In cases of necessity when some one 
should baptize the child, the father or 
mother should not do so if there be any- 
one else present who can administer the 
sacrament. 

Duties of Sponsors. 

When a child is baptized in the 
home, that is, baptized privately, it 
must, in case of recovery, be brought 
to the church to have the ceremonies 
supplied. These can be given only in 
the parish church. Sponsors should be 
Catholics, with clear understanding of 
their duties and responsibilties. Those 
who act as sponsors contract a spiritual 
relationship towards the child, which 
forms an impediment to later matri- 
mony. Sponsors do not, however, con- 
tract this relationship between them- 
selves. 

They are obliged to act as teachers or 
moral guardians of the child in case the 
parents die or become separated from 
the child or neglect it. Particularly 
they would be obliged to see that the 
child is instructed in religion, that it 
makes its first Communion, is con- 
firmed, and receives, if possible, a 
Catholic education. Those who become 
sponsors for children of mixed mar- 
riages must be especially watchful over 
them in case the Catholic parent should 
die. Sponsors are free from all obliga- 
tion when it is prudently presumed 
that the baptized are properly in- 
structed by their parents. 

Baptism by Immersion. 

The Christian Standard, a non-Cath- 
olic publication, in an article on 



THE SACRAMENTS. 



399 



"Ancient Baptistries," which ap- 
peared in July, 1916, advocates the re- 
turn to what is termed "primitive 
Christianity," in the matter of Bap- 
tism. The writer urged a return to 
baptism by immersion as in the early 
days. 

The Church at one time practiced 
Baptism by immersion. This was done 
up to the thirteenth century. The 
Council of Ravenna, in 1311, changed 
the form from immersion to pouring. 
It is well known, however, that the 
Church had good reasons for doing 
this, that she had the power to legislate 
on the matter, and that immersion was 
not the only accepted form of Baptism 
up to the time of its change. 

Three forms, pouring, sprinkling 
and immersion were practiced previous 
to 1311, though immersion was the 
more usual. All three were held to be 
equally valid. The sick, however, 
could not be baptized by immersion. St. 
Paul must have used either the sprink- 
ling or pouring, when he baptized his 
jailer, and his whole household, as re- 
corded in the Acts of the Apostles. 
Many other cases could be cited where 
immersion was impossible. It was nec- 
essary, then, to adopt a method that 
might apply to every conceivable cir- 
cumstance and emergency. What was 
essential for the value of the Sacra- 
ment was retained, namely, the pouring 
of the water on the head of the person 
to be baptized, so as to indicate the act 
of washing, and the pronouncing of 
the words of baptism at the same time, 
with the intention of conferring a Sac- 
rament, or of doing what the Church 
does. 



The Church, to whom the adminis- 
tration of the Sacraments had been en- 
trusted by our Divine Lord, is acting 
quite within her rights in promulgat- 
ing such disciplinary laws concerning 
the demands of time and place, as long 
as they do not interfere with the valid 
administration of a Sacrament. In the 
form of Baptism there is a reference to 
this former immersion, when the spon- 
sors are called upon to touch the child 
with their hand when the water is 
poured on its head. In this action the 
spiritual relationship is contracted. It 
signifies the raising of the child out of 
the water. 

Confirmation. 

Confirmation is a Sacrament in 
which we receive the Holy Ghost with 
his divine gifts, and are made strong 
and perfect Christians and soldiers of 
Jesus Christ. It also imprints a spirit- 
ual mark on the soul. 

Every Catholic is obliged under pain 
of sin to receive it if within his power. 
The Bishop is the ordinary minister of 
this sacrament, and timely announce- 
ment will be made as to when he is to 
come to the parish to administer it. All 
children who have attained the proper 
age should present themselves for the 
purpose of being duly prepared for its 
reception. The catechism must be thor- 
oughly learned and such other instruc- 
tions given as may enable the child to 
understand all that pertains to the 
worthy reception of this sacrament. 
Parents should see that the child comes 
punctually to class and applies itself 
with diligence. Adults, no matter how 
old, and converts to the faith must pre- 



400 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



sent themselves also, and abide by the 
advice the priest gives them. 

Preparation. 

To receive this sacrament worthily, 
we must be thoroughly instructed in 
its nature and effects, and be in a state 
of sanctifying grace, which means that 
the soul must be free from mortal sin. 
Hence the necessity of going to confes- 
sion beforehand. It is customary for 
children to make a retreat or triduum 
of three days previous to receiving 
Confirmation, and for adults to spend 
some time in preparatory prayer and 
religious exercises. 

Candidates must have a sponsor, 
though generally the pastor provides 
one — a gentleman for the boys and 
male adults, and a lady for the girls 
and adult women. Such sponsors con- 
tract a spiritual relationship as in Bap- 
tism. 

A middle name may be given in Con- 
firmation, and the name of a saint 
should be chosen. The ceremony is very 
simple and impressive. 

Extreme Unction. 

Extreme Unction is the Sacrament of 
the dying. It is administered to those 
who are in danger of death from sick- 
ness, wound or accident. It remits sin, 
cleanses the soul from the remains of 
sin and gives strength to the soul in 
that last hour when the faculties have 
become extremely weak. Should God 
see fit it may be instrumental in restor- 
ing the sick to health. 

Persons dangerously ill are obliged 
under pain of grievous sin to be 
anointed if there is any possibility of 
getting a priest. They should not delay 



too long in sending for one, for they 
may lose the use of reason, or the 
severity of their sickness may prevent 
them from making a good confession or 
receiving the holy Viaticum with 
proper dispositions. As soon as there 
is reasonable evidence of a danger of 
death the priest should be sent for at 
once. The sick person is not always 
competent to pass judgment upon his 
condition. A Catholic doctor or nurse 
or friends or relatives are the best 
judges. Extreme Unction must be ad- 
ministered by the pastor or one of the 
assistant pastors of the parish in which 
the sick person lives, except in case of 
necessity, or when permission has been 
granted. 

It frequently happens that, aside 
from the supernatural strength im- 
parted to the soul by this sacrament, 
the natural results accruing from its 
reception are very great. It brings 
composure of mind and easiness of con- 
science, and a will to accept the inev- 
itable, which are very helpful in sick- 
ness. 

The Viaticum. 

The Viaticum is holy Communion 
given to the dying. It is given just as 
holy Communion is given, except that 
the priest in administering it uses 
slightly different words. 

Everything in the sick room should 
be prepared just as for Holy Com- 
munion. The sick person, before re- 
ceiving, will make his confession or, at 
least, should be in a state of grace. 

It is not necessary to be fasting to 
receive the holy Viaticum worthily. If 
the patient can just as well fast, it Is 




Top, left, The Shrine and relic; top, right, close up view of the relic of wrist 
bone of St. Anne in reliquary; lower left, scala sancta; lower right, shrine 
church, recently destroyed by fire. 



THE SACRAMENTS. 



401 



advisable to do so, but there is no ob- 
ligation whatever in that regard. The 
Church permits this in such extremity, 
although not in case of ordinary sick- 
ness. 

Holy Viaticum is administered only 
to those who are in danger of death, 
and who in other respects are in a fit 
condition to receive it. They cannot re- 
ceive if they are unconscious, or too 
near to death to swallow the sacred 
Host, or if they are vomiting. 

Evil of Delay. 

It is a great injustice to the sick to 
delay too long to call the priest, for 
there is always a possibility of the pa- 
tient relapsing into unconsciousness, or 
of becoming so distressed and weakened 
in mind as not to fully realize the 
meaning of the holy sacrament he is 
receiving. 

Holy Viaticum may be received more 
than once during the same sickness, 
but usually not oftener than once a 
week, although there may be circum- 
stances in which it could be adminis- 
tered daily It is understood, however, 
that the dangerous character of the 
sickness still continues. 

The Last Blessing. 

A last blessing to which is attached 
a plenary indulgence is given to those 
who are about to die. The priest has 
the power to give such a solemn bless- 
ing and to grant to those who have the 
proper dispositions a full discharge of 
all temporal punishment due to sin as 
the hour of death approaches. The 
blessing is generally given with the last 
sacraments. 

In order to gain this indulgence the 



dying person must, first, be in a state 
of grace (free from all mortal sin), and 
for this purpose should go to confession 
and receive the Blessed Sacrament if 
he possibly can ; secondly, he must have 
the intention of receiving it, if not an 
actual intention at least a general one; 
thirdly, he must be sorry for all of his 
sins, venial as well as 'mortal ; fourthly, 
he should invoke the name of Jesus, 
if not orally, at least in mind ; fifthly, 
he must be resigned to God's will, even 
if he should be taken away by death. 
These conditions have reference to a 
person having the use of his reasoning 
faculties. If for any cause he is not in 
the possession of his senses, he must 
at least be in a state of grace. 

The dying should, therefore, en- 
deavor to have lively sentiments of 
faith, hope and charity — believing all 
the truths the Church believes and 
teaches, trusting in the great mercy of 
God and the boundless compassion of 
Jesus Christ, loving God above all 
things, forgiving everyone and asking 
forgiveness at least mentally. He 
should be sorry for his sins, and re- 
solve that in case God gives him back 
his health and strength he will be more 
careful to avoid sin and more dili- 
gent in keeping God's Commandments. 
Lastly, he should offer up his suffer- 
ings in union with the passion and 
death of our Lord, and accept God's 
will if He should see fit to take him 
away by death. 

The End of Life. 

Catholics will do well to consider for 
a moment the matter of death which 
sooner or later will confront us all. The 



402 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



suddenness of death is the feature for 
which we should be prepared. Usually 
in such cases where death has come 
suddenly the impression prevails that 
it is useless to send for the priest to 
administer the Last Sacraments. To 
prevent serious mistake being made in 
such a crisis read what Dr. Austin 
O'Malley, a prominent Catholic phys- 
ician, and a recognized authority on 
medical practice from a sacramental 
standpoint, has to say in the October, 
1920, issue of America, in "When Does 
Human Life End. ' ' 

"In recording a death we commonly 
say that the person died at just a cer- 
tain number of minutes before or after 
some hour, but there is no method 
known to science which exactly deter- 
mines the moment that the soul leaves 
the body. It is extremely probable 
that no one dies at the exact moment of 
apparent death; the heart may beat 
a half hour after all palpable pulse 
beat has stopped. Daily throughout 
the world the priest reaches a person 
who has just died, the heart and lungs 
are still, and everyone thinks there is 
no chance to administer the Sacra- 
ments ; nevertheless the man may be 
alive. The probability that we do not 
die as soon as consciousness, respira- 
tion and palpable pulsation of the 
blood cease, is so strong that all moral- 
ists now maintain that the last Sacra- 
ments should be given conditionally up 
to at least an hour after apparent 
death. 

"The important fact is that in any 
case of death the exact moment in 
which the soul leaves the body is not 
knowable, and where there is question 



of administering the Sacraments the 
person apparently dead should have 
the benefit of the doubt. He is to re- 
ceive conditional Baptism, Absolution 
or Extreme Unction, if these Sacra- 
ments are required. The human res- 
piratory system can survive anaemia 
for thirty to fifty minutes. How long 
after an hour a priest may administer 
the Sacraments is not known, but a 
second hour, or even a third, are not 
unreasonable intervals of time during 
which the Sacraments may be adminis- 
tered conditionally. The Sacraments 
are for man, and there is no irreverence 
if they are administered condition- 
ally." 

The Sick Eoom. 

When the priest has been called to 
give Communion to the sick or admin- 
ister the last sacraments to the dying, 
care should be taken to have everything 
rightly arranged in the sick room. 

In the first place it should be clean, 
and everything offensive taken away. 
There should be no clothing lying scat- 
tered about, but neatly folded up and 
put away. The sick person should be 
decently covered, and the bed clothing 
arranged in good order. All useless 
and unsightly objects should be re- 
moved. 

There are some necessary articles 
which should be in the sick room when 
the priest arrives. These are the fol- 
lowing : A small table neatly covered 
with a white linen cloth ; on the table 
two candles in candlesticks, a crucifix, 
a glass of fresh water and a spoon, holy 
water in a vase or cruet, and a clean, 
white napkin to serve as a communion 



THE SACRAMENTS. 



403 



cloth. The above articles are needed 
for Holy Communion or the Viaticum, 
but if Extreme Unction is to be admin- 
istered, besides the above articles, there 
is still further need of some cotton on 
a plate, together with a bowl of water 
and a towel for the cleansing of the 
priest's fingers after the unctions. 

Holy Orders. 

Holy Orders is a Sacrament which 
gives bishops, priests and inferior 
clergy to the Church, and enables them 
to perform their duties, by means of 
the power and grace obtained 

It is necessary to have a priesthood 
for administering the Sacraments and 
God alone can institute a priesthood. 
The first priests of the New Law were 
the Apostles especially selected by 
Jesus Christ, and trained and in- 
structed by Him during the years of 
His public life. In giving them the 
power to perform their sacred min- 
istry, Jesus also gave them the power 
to select others to continue the work 
after their death. This power was al- 
ways in effect in the Church. The dis- 
ciples of the Apostles succeeded them 
in the work of the priesthod, as we have 
evidence in St. Paul (II Timothy, i, 6). 
"I admonish thee that thou stir up 
the grace of God which is in thee by 
the imposition of my hands." Here 
we have all the essentials of a Sacra- 
ment, the outward sign, the inward 
grace, and divine appointment ; for 
God alone can make outward signs 
means of grace. 

The requirements for Holy Orders 
are, — to be baptised, to be acting vol- 
untarily, to be in a state of grace, to 



have been confirmed, to take the 
Orders in regular arrangement, to be 
of canonical age, to be under no cen- 
sure, to be sufficiently educated, to be 
ordained either by the bishop of the 
diocese where one is born, or if other- 
wise, with his permission, to have 
a legitimate and sufficient title. 

The Holy Orders are Tonsure, 
Minor Orders (4), (Ostiarius, Lector, 
Exorcist and Acolyte), sub-Deacon, 
and Deacon and Priesthood. Tonsure 
is accepted to mean the desire to 
enter upon the priestly life, leaving 
the world's affairs behind. The 
Minor Orders are significant of vari- 
ous church duties performed formerly 
by youthful ecclesiastics. Sub-Deacon 
marks the entry into the sanctuary 
and participation in the services 
there. Deacon means assistant to 
the priest, and priesthood full power 
to offer the Holy Sacrifice. 

Ordination does not mean imme- 
diate participation in all priestly 
functions. This comes with the direct 
appointment of the Bishop to a par- 
ticular church. A priest may exer- 
cise these functions only where ap- 
pointed, and under direction of his 
superiors. A strange priest must be 
identified by means of proper papers 
before he is permitted to say Mass 
outside his own church. And he is not 
permitted to perform other duties 
outside his own diocese unless by 
direct permission of the bishop. This 
is made necessary to safeguard the 
Sacraments. The pastor and his as- 
sistants administer the Sacraments 
within the limits of a parish. Beyond 



404 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



i 



such limits, properly published for 
all to know, they may not go. And 
no other priest can enter the confines 
of the parish to perform the duties of 
his office without the permission of 
the pastor. 

The studies required for the priest- 
hood are arranged throughout a pe- 
riod of years in colleges and semi- 
naries approved by the Chruch. The 
canonical age for ordination is twenty- 
five years. Many dioceses have their 
own educational institutions in which 
boys are trained and educated. The 
proper thing for a boy desirous of 
studying for the Church is to apply to 
his pastor or his confessor for advice 
and counsel. 

Grace. 

Our catechism tells us that Grace is 
a supernatural gift from God intended 
to aid us in our salvation. It is granted 
to us through the merits of Jesus 
Christ. 

The word "grace" comes from the 
Latin word "gratis," meaning free. It 
comes to us, therefore, in the nature 
of an extra gift. We have many 
natural gifts, as men and women. But 
they do not make us children of God. 
They do not make us heirs to Heaven. 
That alone is done for us by the gift 
of Divine Grace. 

Grace is of two kinds, sanctifying 
and actual. The first makes us chil- 
dren of God. The second helps us to 



act as children of God. Only by freely 
acting as children of God, co-operating 
with His grace, performing good works, 
can we prepare ourselves for Heaven. 

God's grace is absolutely necessary 
for salvation. We cannot earn Heaven 
without it. We receive through its 
gift a new life, a divine life. It aids 
us to live, to do all things for the 
honor and glory of God. Hence our 
Savior says, "Without Me you can do 
nothing." (John xv, 5.) 

God gives us all sufficient grace to 
enable us to work out our salvation. If 
any of us fail in this aim of our lives 
it will not be for lack of means pro- 
vided us by God. Rather it will be be- 
cause we either ignore or deliberately 
oppose the grace of God. Co-operation 
with God's graces is absolutely neces- 
sary. 

If any one grace can be said to be of 
greater advantage than others it will be 
the grace of perseverance throughout 
our lives. This is somewhat like a 
chain of graces which enable us habitu- 
ally to overcome every temptation that 
besets us in life. It will infallibly be 
bestowed on all who make the right use 
of means of grace and who co-operate 
with divine assistance. 

The means of grace are within the 
reach of all. The first is prayer, called 
by St. Alphonsus the great means of 
salvation. The second is the Sacra- 
ments of the Church, here explained. 



CHAPTER XVIII— Part 2. 



The Sacraments. 

Part 2. — Sacrament of Penance — Needs for Confession — Power of Forgiveness — 
Confession in Scripture — Frequent Confession — Restitution— Bad Company— Evil 
Thoughts — Scruples and Scrupulous People — Frequent Communion — The Decree — 
Jansenism — Present Day Frequency of Reception — Preparation for Communion — 
First Communion — Fathers of the Blessed Sacrament — Matrimony — Preparations for 
Marriage — Thoughts on Marriage — For the Man — For the Girl — Divorce Our National 
Shame — Race Suicide — Malthusianism— Early Marriages — Limitation of Families- 
Birth Control — Eugenics — Sex Hygiene — Defectives and Marriage — Agenics — Mixed 
Marriages. 



The Sacrament of Penance. 

There are about three hundred mil- 
lion Catholics in the world today They 
are sane, sensible and educated people, 
who cannot be deceived, and who would 
not tolerate deception of any kind, 
especially in religion In their accept- 
ance of all religious teaching, they ex- 
ercise common sense, and it would be 
absurd to suppose that so many people 
could be deceived about such an im- 
portant factor in religion as the matter 
of Confession and the Sacrament of 
Penance. Yet it is precisely this Sac- 
rament which forms the basis of mis- 
understanding and of so much attack 
upon the Church and its people. 

Non-Catholics have great difficulty 
in understanding the Catholic attitude 
on Confession. It presents the greatest 
stumbling-block to the enquiring mind. 
To them it is humiliating, something 
not to be endured. Yet, when their at- 
tention is called to the Catholic reasons 
for belief, namely, that we hold that 



Jesus Christ has the power to forgive 
sin, that He proved His power to do 
so, that He gave the exercise of this 
power to His Apostles, and, therefore, 
to the priests of today, who are the 
direct successors of the Apostles, when 
He addressed to the Twelve the words 
quoted from St. John xx, 23 — the doe- 
trine becomes reasonable enough. 

It follows that the power given to the 
Apostles was not to expire with them, 
since the Church of Christ was to con- 
tinue until the end of time. The Apos- 
tles had the right to, select their suc- 
cessors and to delegate their powers to 
them, in order that the whole world 
should have the opportunity of enjoy- 
ing the forgiveness of sin, among, other 
privileges of Christ's passion. There- 
fore, if this power continues in the 
Church, how else might it be exercised 
unless in the actual confession? How 
could the Apostles exercise this power 
of forgiveness unless they first knew 
what to "forgive" or "retain"? Con- 



406 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



fession of sin to a duly authorized 
priest for the purpose of obtaining for- 
giveness follows. Christ gave His Apos- 
tles the rights of a judge. No judge 
can decide a case unless first the evi- 
dence is presented to him. This re- 
quires confession, safeguarded and sur- 
rounded with every precaution, as it is, 
in the interests of the penitent. Not 
only is it protected by what is called 
the "seal of confession," but every ef- 
fort is made to help the penitent to 
conceal his identity, since that fact 
need not be known. 

Needs for Confession. 

Man, even though regenerated and 
justified, is still liable to fall into sin, 
on account of the depravity of his 
fallen nature, and also on account of 
the many temptations that surround 
him : therefore, our loving Lord, in his 
infinite mercy, instituted this Sacra- 
ment for the forgiveness of sin com- 
mitted after baptism It is the Sacra- 
ment of Penance, in which, by the ab- 
solution of the priest, joined with the 
contrition, confession, and satisfaction 
of the penitent, the sins of the penitent 
are forgiven by God, through the ap- 
plication of the merits of Jesus Christ, 
and grace is given to the penitent to 
help him to avoid sin in the future. 

Contrition is an interior grief, hor- 
ror and detestation of sin committed, 
with the firm resolve never more to re- 
lapse into evil habits. Contrition thus 
includes in itself two acts: sorrow of 
the heart for sin committed, and the 
purpose of the will to avoid sin in fu 
ture. 

Confession is an express, contrite, 



but secret self-accusation, to a duly 
authorized priest, of, at least, all griev- 
ous sins committed after baptism, 
for which we wish to receive absolution, 
or of all the mortal sins committed 
since the last confession when absolu- 
tion was received, as far as we can re- 
call them to our memory. 

Satisfaction means doing the pen- 
ance enjoined by the priest in confes- 
sion, repairing the scandal if any was 
given, and restoring property or good 
name to the person from whom either 
has been taken away. 

Power of Forgiveness. 

Almighty God certainly can, if it so 
pleases Him, depute a man to forgive 
sin in His name. That He did depute 
certain men to forgive sins is plain 
from what our blessed Lord said to 
His Apostles, and in the persons of the 
Apostles to their legitimate successors 
to the end of the world : ' ' Peace be to 
you. As the Father hath sent me, 
I also send you." When he had said 
this, He breathed on them ; and He said 
to them: "Receive ye the Holy Ghost: 
whose sins you shall forgive, they are 
forgiven them ; and whose sins you 
shall retain, they are retained.'' (St. 
John xx, 21-23.) 

This divine commission to forgive 
sins in Christ's name was always un- 
derstood to mean what the words just 
quoted from St. John naturally and 
plainly signify : namely, that God has 
commissioned certain men to grant, and 
also withhold, the forgiveness of sin in 
His name ; and these words have thus 
been understood from the time of the 
Apostles until now by the Catholic 



THE SACRAMENTS. 



407 



Church, and have thus been understood 
also by the separated Greek and other 
Oriental schismatical churches, in 
which the Sacrament of Penance is 
also believed and practiced. 

Confession in Scripture. 

That it is a good thing to confess our 
sins appears from the following pas- 
sages of Holy Writ: "He that hideth 
his sins shall not prosper; but he that 
shall confess, and forsake them shall 
obtain mercy." (Proverbs xxviii, 13.) 
St. James writes : ' ' Confess, there- 
fore, your sins one to another" 
(v, 16). If open confession is good for 
the soul, how much more advantageous 
is it to confess to a priest who has de- 
puted power from God to forgive our 
sins. We must bear the shame of show- 
ing our wounds and bruises and fester- 
ing sores if we wish to be cured. To 
humble ourselves before the minister of 
God is some reparation for the wrong 
we have done ; that humiliation pleases 
God and procures for us many great 
blessings. 

Confession Is Necessary. 

It is necessary because, being sin- 
ners, we should acknowledge sorrow 
for our sins before God. When our 
Lord was on earth He was constantly 
forgiving sin, as we see by His oft- 
repeated words: "Go thy way, thy 
sins are forgiven thee ' ' ; but because 
He left His Apostles as "other Christs" 
to continue His mission of love and 
mercy towards men, He gave them His 
own power of taking away and forgiv- 
ing sin. For, assembling them around 



Him, He said, "All power is given to 
Me in Heaven and on earth," and 
breathing upon them, He said, "Re- 
ceive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins 
you shall forgive, they are forgiven 
them, and whose sins you shall retain, 
they are retained." 

Frequent Confession. 

Not only is confession necessary and 
obligatory, and as such commanded by 
Holy Church, but it is commanded 
likewise to be practiced frequently by 
all, for it is not only the remedy for 
taking away sin, but it is likewise the 
prevention against relapse. So true 
is this that it has passed into an axiom 
"that mortal sin and frequent confes- 
sion cannot exist in a person at one 
and the same time." We know how 
easy it is to fall away, and one of the 
chief causes of our falling the first 
time was our lack of fidelity to grace, 
but by frequent confession, grace is 
renewed to us again and again, and 
the sorrow for our fall is deepened and 
increased and our return to sin made 
the more difficult. Again, by going to 
confession often we ground ourselves 
the more in virtue ; faith is deepened, 
hope increased, charity is enkindled, 
and all the other virtues through the 
exercise of our humility in confession 
and the punishment of pride, take root 
in the soul and make it strong in the 
love and service of God. 

Restitution. 

One feature of the Sacrament of 
Penance which must never be over- 
looked deals with the matter of resti- 
tution of ill-gotten goods. One is never 



408 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



permitted to retain such goods, or in 
any way to profit from the same. 

Justice demands that ill-gotten goods 
or their value be restored if it be pos- 
sible to do so. It is well to bear in 
mind that sins against strict justice 
cannot be forgiven until restitution be 
made, if it can be made, and if it can- 
not be made in fact, there must at least 
be an ardent desire to made it. 

If the theft or appropriation of 
goods or money be large enough to con- 
stitute a mortal offense against the 
moral law, the obligation to restore 
binds under the pain of mortal sin; ii 
it is slight and constitutes merely a 
venial sin, the obligation to restore 
binds only under the pain of venial 
sin That is the plain teaching of the 
Church. Restitution can be made 
secretly. No one is obliged to proclaim 
himself a thief or to incriminate him- 
self. 

Stealing and Mortal Sin. 

What constitutes a mortal offense 
against the law of strict justice ? The- 
ologians do not agree on this point, but 
they are sufficiently in accord for all 
practical purposes. The standard of 
values varies in different countries and 
under different circumstances. What 
would apply to one place would not ap- 
ply to another. Conditions in life, too, 
would have to be taken into considera- 
tion. Four theologians have written 
specially for America and they are 
considered of the highest authority. 
These are Kenrick, Sabetti, Tanqueray 
and Konings. 

Kenrick holds that twenty-five cents 
unjustly taken from a laborer, fifty 



cents from a mechanic, one dollar from 
an ordinarily rich man, and five dol- 
lars in all cases, constitute a mortal 
offense or a grave infraction of justice. 
Konings is not so severe. He holds that 
one dollar from a laborer, one dollar 
and twenty-five cents from a mechanic, 
two dollars from the one who lives on 
an income, and ten dollars in all cases 
are sufficient to make a mortal sin. Sa- 
betti and Tanqueray are about midway 
between these two and are probably the 
safest to follow in practice. 

It should be borne in mind that, as 
far as restitution is concerned, when 
there is an infraction of strict justice, 
there is no difference between an in- 
dividual and what are commonly un- 
derstood as moral persons, such as cor- 
porations, firms, stores, companies, 
civic bodies, etc. Restitution must be 
made to them as well. Special difficul- 
ties which may present themselves con- 
nected with any particular case should 
always be presented to the confessor. 

Bad Company. 

One of the promises made by all 
penitents, when saying the act of con- 
trition after absolution in the Sacra- 
ment of Penance, is to avoid as far as 
possible all persons and places where 
temptations to sin are sure to follow. 
Bad company is something always to be 
avoided. 

Young people especially are very 
susceptible to the influence of those 
who are about them. They are open- 
hearted, unsuspecting, too ready often 
to give their confidence and friendship 



THE SACRAMENTS. 



409 



to those unworthy of either. They are 
slow to abandon those upon whom they 
have bestowed their regard, unwilling 
to believe evil of them because of their 
affection for them. And so the danger 
to their virtue is very great when they 
fall into bad company, their ignorance 
of the world and their guilelessness 
leaving them open to many tempta- 
tions 

The bad companion is he who is try- 
ing to rob us of our virtue — to rob us 
of the best we possess. 

Evil Thoughts. 

To get a correct idea of Catholic 
teaching on evil thoughts, it is neces- 
sary to know that by the word 
' ' thought ' ' is meant not only the work- 
ing of the mind but the inclination of 
the will. It is the action of the will 
that determines whether or not any 
thought, (in the sense of ideas, notions, 
reflections) word or act is a sin. "When 
theologians or moralists talk of sins of 
thought, they include in the term 
"thought" mental images, judgments, 
mental pleasure, desire and resolve. 
A very little reflection will convince 
anyone that mental images, ideas, no- 
tions, however bad in themselves, are 
not sinful unless they are voluntary., 
or acquiesced in by the will. Having, 
or not having such thoughts is really 
not a matter over which we always 
have control. They come into the minds 
of the most saintly as well as the least 
holy, and are sinful or otherwise ac- 
cording as one takes pleasure in them, 
or endeavors to rid oneself of them as 
speedily as possible. So long as an ef- 
fort is being made to banish them from 



one's mind, there is no culpability in- 
volved. In other words, temptations 
are not sins. They may be, indeed, and, 
in fact, very frequently are merely 
occasions for acquiring merit. Every 
temptation vanquished, every bad 
thought expelled from the mind, is an 
act of virtue. 

Varieties. 

The varieties of sins of thought are 
numerous, but they may best be classi- 
fied under the heads of: sins against 
God, against our neighbor, and against 
ourselves. Of the first kind some ex- 
amples are : doubting the faith, mur- 
muring in one's heart against God's 
divine providence, failing to jesign 
ourselves to His holy will, receiving 
trials with impatience and revolt, 
despairing of our salvation or of the 
possibility of amending our lives, pre- 
suming on God's mercy while continu- 
ing in sin, etc. 

Among sins of thought against our 
neighbor may be mentioned suspicions 
reflecting on his probity or virtue; 
envy of his talents or fame or fortune ; 
deep aversion, especially towards those 
who are our civil or religious superiors ; 
anger and malice and hatred ; the de- 
sire of revenge and especially the reso- 
lution to wreak revenge should the op- 
portunity offer; wishing that evil may 
befall our neighbor or rejoicing that 
evil has already befallen him ; coveting 
his possessions or position, and — an es- 
pecially vicious form — rejoicing in the 
sins he has committed. 

As for sins of thought against our- 
selves, some of them are : pride, vanity, 
contempt of others, an inordinate am- 



410 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



bition for a higher state in life or for 
honors and glory and renown, and es- 
pecially, the entertaining or dwelling 
upon thoughts and images against the 
virtue of purity. 

Scruples and Scrupulous People. 

A scruple has come to be understood 
by us to mean some trifle which causes 
distress in mind, hindering the soul 
from due and proper exercise of devo- 
tion. One who is frequently or habitu- 
ally worried by such trifles is said to 
be scrupulous. 

One's conscience forms judgments 
as to what is right or wrong, good or 
bad, in conduct. This judgment re- 
quires the right use of reason in all 
things, but especially in practical mat- 
ters. A scrupulous person's intellect 
is darkened, worried, and, for the time 
being, incapable of judging rightly. 
False representations of evil are 
brought to mind where no evil exists. 
Imagination brings up all manner of 
doubts. Right judgment should cor- 
rect this, but where judgment cannot 
be exercised we have a sort of spiritual 
disease, and scrupulous people. Such 
people get to feel that actions are sinful 
when they really are not so at all. Or 
worse still, they imagine offenses to be 
mortal sins when they are only venial, 
if sinful at all. It is not fear of sin; 
it is rather the vain, groundless and 
unreasonable fear of sin where it does 
not exist which causes this state. 

The real scrupulous person can think 
of nothing else. Sin is seen in every- 
thing. There is dissatisfaction about 
the confessions made. They would 
rush back immediately. Thej^ would 



come every day, yet cannot act on the 
advice of the confessor. They feel that, 
perhaps, he did not understand their 
case. They see sin in actions which or- 
dinary good people perform without 
hesitation. They examine their con- 
science too often and sins already con- 
fessed are told and retold over and 
over again. These are some of the 
signs in a class which is, of course, 
rare and generally not very well 
known. 

The remedy lies in the attendance of 
a spiritual physician, the confessor. 
Complete and absolute obedience to his 
direction must follow. He will vary 
his remedies according to the form 
which the scruples take. With the 
grace given him and by reason of his 
experience, he will discover the root 
of the evil and prescribe the proper 
remedies. He will insist, among the 
ordinary remedies prescribed, that the 
penitent never again bring up a mat- 
ter already confessed. He will recom- 
mend that, in case of any doubt, the 
scrupulous person act in the matter 
just as they see other good people who 
are not scrupulous. He will urge upon 
them trust in the unbounded mercy of 
God, Whom such persons imagine to be 
a tyrant, always watching to catch 
them in some fault. He will gradually 
lead them into making up their own 
minds on such matters, and, able to act 
courageously for themselves. 

Frequent Communion. 

Holy Communion is so essential in 
our lives as Catholics and so necessary 
in the spiritual combat we are engaged 
in, in this valley of tears that we can- 



THE SACRAMENTS. 



411 



not learn too much about this source of 
grace, or about its effects on our souls. 
Since the publication of the papal de- 
cree, "Sacra Tridentina Synodus," in 
1905, pastors and religious educators 
have been continually deepening our 
instruction. They have explained more 
fully the dogmatic aspect of the 
Eucharist ; they have multiplied mo- 
tives to strengthen our will and to stim- 
ulate our desire for the frequent re- 
ception of it; and they are still earn- 
estly urging us to weigh the results of 
this sacrament within ourselves in 
fruits of grace and sanctity. So per- 
sistent are they in their zealous teach- 
ing that we should hardly have thought 
it worth while to go over the ground 
again, merely to restate obvious truths, 
had not the decree itself been proposed 
for the general intention of the 
League of the Sacred Heart, June, 
1913. We must, therefore, recall the 
outstanding features of the salutary 
legislation of 1905, so that our readers 
may not plead ignorance of its aims or 
its teaching. 

The Decree. 

The Holy Father tells us therein 
that no one who is in the state of grace 
(that is, who is not conscious of mor- 
tal sin) and who has a right and devout 
intention (that is, who is actuated 
primarily by a supernatural motive) 
should be deprived of the privilege 
of receiving frequent, even daily, Com- 
munion. This direction is consoling; 
it makes the approach to the holy table 
easier than it commonly was in former 
times. St. Francis of Sales in his 
"Devout Life," a work that has spirit- 
ualized many a life in the past two 



hundred years, taught that to com- 
municate weekly, it was necessary to be 
without mortal sin, without affection 
to venial sin, and to have a greater 
desire for Communion; but that to re- 
ceive daily it was necessary, beside this, 
to have overcome the greater part of 
our evil inclinations and to act under 
the advice of a confessor. 

This discipline, unnecessarily severe, 
is the one that was usually taught by 
moralists, even up to recent years. 
Learned professors exhausted their 
analytical acumen in guaging the vari- 
ous states of soul required for the fre- 
quency or infrequency of reception of 
Holy Communion. They were so dog- 
matic in their assertiveness, and their 
authority was so highly thought of, 
that no one, relying on his own lights, 
felt inclined to contradict them or to 
act contrary to their decisions. But 
eight years ago the Holy Father inter- 
posed. With one stroke of his pen he 
swept away their subtle distinctions 
and laid down instead the two simple 
conditions mentioned above. Before he 
took such a radical step, he had evi- 
dently convinced himself that the fears 
of the moralists were groundless and 
that the frequent and even daily recep- 
tion of Communion by Catholics gen- 
erally would not open the door of lax- 
ity, levity, or irrevenence. 

True pastor of his flock and deter- 
mined to "restore all things in Christ,' 
Pius X saw that one of his great duties 
was to strengthen human souls. He 
knew that while the Holy Eucharist 
should always be accepted as a pledge 
and symbol of unity, and as an object 
of adoration, something no Catholic 



412 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



was disposed to question, there were 
other aspects that should be insisted 
upon, namely, that the frequent recep- 
tion of the Eucharist is also a source 
of strengch in trials and temptation, a 
fountain of sanctifying grace and holy 
charity, and that for this reason it 
should never have ceased to be the fre- 
quent, even daily, food of our souls. 

Jansenism. 

In the early ages of the Church the 
practice of frequent Communion was 
general, and when the "Fathers of 
Trent" legislated in this matter, urg- 
ing even daily Communion, they were 
merely insisting on a return to former 
discipline. There is no doubt that the 
action of the Council would have had 
its effect on souls in subsequent years, 
had not the insidious Jansenistic heresy 
appeared to neutralize its efforts. This 
heresy, one of the most dangerous that 
ever sprung up to trouble the Church, 
insisted, under the guise of reverence 
for the greatness of the Sacrament, on 
dispositions of soul so rigorous and so 
difficult to secure that few felt they 
could succeed. It was this baneful er- 
ror that, under a splendid liturgy and 
a demonstration of outward devotion, 
awed the multitude. The majesty of 
God was presented to them in a way 
that overshadowed His goodness ; fear 
took the place of love and kept the 
faithful away from the Holy Table. 

There are few of the present genera- 
tion who have reached middle life who 
do not recall the sum of anxious prepa- 
ration their Godfearing fathers and 
mothers imposed on themselves for 
their one or two Communions a year. 



Notwithstanding their strong faith and 
their time-honored piety they ap- 
proached the altar, usually at Christ- 
mas and Easter, with a formality, a 
fear, a scrupulosity that must have 
seriously interfered with the union of 
their souls with God. 

Present Day Frequency. 

The present generation of Catholics 
are having a different experience. It 
is generally admitted that devotion to 
the Sacred Heart has had more to do 
in modern times with the rooting out of 
the Jansenistic spirit, and with the fre- 
quenting of the Sacraments than any 
other agency. It made the practice of 
monthly and weekly Communions pop- 
ular; it cultivated Communions of de- 
votion ; it made souls love God rather 
than fear Him. The result was that 
personal love for God, love shorn of all 
superfluous formalism, drew souls to 
Him. "Love for love" became implic- 
itly the shibboleth of Catholics. 

But this was not enough. The Divine 
Master had long ago told us that "His 
Flesh is meat indeed, and His Blood 
is drink indeed, ' ' and that ' ' if any man 
would eat this Food he should live for- 
ever." The faithful in this age could 
not have too much of the Good that 
giveth eternal life, and the Decree of 
1905 urging frequent and daily Com- 
munion appeared to complete the work 
begun by the spread of devotion to 
the Sacred Heart. 

It is only a few years since this im- 
portant decree was published and al- 
ready its salutary fruits, especially 
among the rising generation, are begin- 
ning to be recognized. A few years 



THE SACRAMENTS. 



413 



hence the practice of frequent and 
daily Communion will be as popular as 
it was in the early centuries when the 
faithful used to keep the Blessed Sac- 
rament in their own homes. 

Thanks to the zeal of Pius X, the 
barriers to frequent Communion have 
been let down, the obstacles have been 
thrown aside, the way has been made 
easier, the preparation for Communion 
has been simplified, the rigorous con- 
ditions imposed by moralists have been 
superseded by other simpler ones ap- 
plicable to all men of good will, namely, 
freedom from mortal sin and a pure 
intention. What more could our Holy 
Father do to draw his children to the 
Eucharistic Banquet? 

Preparation for Communion. 

And yet when we analyze these two 
conditions fully, we shall see that they 
do not exclude the reverence that we 
should have in the reception of this 
"Greatest of Gifts." No one who ap- 
preciates all that Holy Communiou 
means to him, will fail to perceive what 
is required of him ; he will none the less 
prepare himself by putting away 
worldliness and worldly concerns from 
his mind; he will cease his uncharita- 
bleness, his sensual indulgences, his dis- 
honesty and pride ; he will be more 
prone to give time to prayer, and re- 
flection, and solitude of heart, as a 
preparation for Holy Communion. The 
reverence that is shown along these 
lines is quite enough, and the recep- 
tion of the Eucharist will, in the words 
of the Holy Father, "enable the faith- 
ful to derive strength to resist their 
passions, to cleanse themselves from 



stain of daily faults, and to avoid those 
greater sins to which human frailty is 
liable." 

From an article by the Eev. Father 
Devine, S. J. 

First Communion. 

There are few parents today who 
question the wisdom of the Church in 
admitting children to the Sacraments 
as soon as they have attained the use 
of reason. 

Our Holy Father in the encyclical 
above referred to taught us the error 
into which practice had led us, of de- 
ferring the Sacraments too long. He 
makes it clear that children should be 
admitted to Penance and Holy Euchar- 
ist as soon as they have attained the 
knowledge of good and evil. Ordinarily 
this is about seven years. 

An important point is found in ref- 
erence to the fact that children are to 
have only a knowledge of their religion 
proportioned to their years. Too much 
is not expected of them. Parents in 
such emergencies will always seek ad- 
vice of their pastor or confessor. 

Fathers of the Blessed Sacrament. 

An organization which is doing 
splendidly effective work in the spread 
of particular devotion towards the 
Blessed Sacrament among priests and 
people is the society of the Blessed 
Sacrament, established in New York in 
1900. There are only fourteen priests 
of the Society in America, but their 
work has had far-reaching results. The 
Priests' Eucharistic League is one of 
their activities. The members of this 
league make each week one continuous 



414 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



hour of adoration before the Blessed 
Sacrament, and say one Mass annually 
for the deceased members. Especial 
privileges are granted them. The 
league numbers its members by 
thousands. The Priests' Communion 
League is an association under the 
same guidance, organized in Rome in 
1906 by Pope Pius X to spread the 
practice of frequent and daily Com- 
munion in conformance with the De- 
cree. The members promise to en- 
courage this work by instruction and 
writing, to encourage assisting at Mass 
and most particularly, frequent Com- 
munion especially among children. 

Marriage. 

The home is the fundamental insti- 
tution of humanity. Before society 
came into existence, before law became 
necessary, domestic life was known, 
and the union of man and woman rec- 
ognized as a fitting and necessary ful- 
fillment of man's destiny on earth. 
This union was brought about by the 
marriage contract. 

To be a real contract, marriage must, 
of course, fulfill all the requirements 
of a contract. There must be a real, 
free, mutual consent on the part of 
both the man and the woman. The 
consent, while manifested externally, 
must be internal. It is understood to 
be active at the time of its expression, 
and must be manifested with delibera- 
tion, knowledge and freedom of choice. 

Jesus Christ raised this marriage 
contract to the dignity of a Sacrament. 
His first public appearance was at the 
marriage feast at Cana His teaching 
throughout emphasized the holiness of 



the married state, and its indissolubil- 
ity — except by the death of one of the 
contracting parties He showed that it 
was a great Sacrament, and He proved 
it from the Commandments which em- 
phasize the rights and duties of parents 
and children, and the love and affection 
by which they should be united. 

The impressive ceremonies with 
which the Church surrounds the ad- 
ministration of this Sacrament, the 
words of the marriage service itself, 
convej r the deep significance of the cer- 
emony, a fact sure to impress itself 
upon the contracting parties. The 
prayer of exhortation is very beautiful. 

Preparations for Marriage. 

1. Call upon your parish priest 
some time ahead and arrange for any- 
thing necessary. Call again at least 
three weeks before the marriage date 
you have in view, because the banns 
must be published three times in your 
parish church. If the contracting 
parties live in different places, ar- 
rangements must be made in the parish 
of the woman where the ceremony will 
take place The man, however, should, 
as a matter of courtesy, call upon his 
pastor and notify him of his intended 
marriage. He should be called in his 
parish church, too, in this case. 

2. The certificate of your Baptism 
is necessary. Apply at the church 
where you were baptized. If at a dis- 
tance, apply in writing, giving partic- 
ulars for reference, and do so in time 
for return before the date of your con- 
templated marriage. The fact of your 
marriage must be returned to the 
church of your Baptism by the priest 



THE SACRAMENTS. 



415 



who marries you: hence the necessity 
of the certificate. 

3. Arrange for marriage with a 
Nuptial Mass. There are special 
blessings connected with this Mass, 
which all should receive. Perhaps the 
most beautiful service, the most richly 
endowed, in the Church is this Nuptial 
Mass. 

4. Receive Holy Communion, hav- 
ing previously gone to Confession, on 
the morning of your marriage. If you 
are being married at Mass, have the 
whole wedding party go to Communion 
at that time. 

But if circumstances prevent your 
having your marriage take place at 
Mass, you should receive Communion. 
No Catholic should fail to prepare for 
the Sacrament of Matrimony by re- 
ceiving the Sacraments of Penance and 
Holy Eucharist. 

5. There must be two witnesses to 
the ceremony, usually called the 
bridesmaid and the best man. Other 
necessities are the license, (in most 
places) which you must procure from 
the civil authorities, and the ring. 

6. Avoid any display which may 
detract from the religious aspect of the 
ceremony. A wedding should be quiet, 
without vain show. It is essentially a 
Sacrament. Remember this : your con- 
duct should be in harmony. 

All boisterous conduct on the part 
of unthinking friends should be pre- 
vented. Talking in the church, throw- 
ing rice, etc., should be regarded as 
rowdyism, and prohibited as such. 

7. The Catholic Church does not 
like her children to marry those who 



are not Catholics. She considers 
"mixed marriages'' full of mischief, 
and she shows her dislike by putting 
difficulties in the way of such mar- 
riages, by not blessing them as she 
blesses others, and by not allowing the 
full ceremonies with which she delights 
at other times to show her reverence 
and love for the Sacrament of Mar- 
riage. 

Nor will she allow these marriages 
to take place at all until a solemn 
promise has been made by the two per- 
sons the non-Catholic as well as the 
Catholic, first, that the Catholic, 
whether man or woman, shall have the 
fullest and freest use of the Catholic 
religion, and shall in no way be 
hindered from practicing it by the non- 
Catholic. Secondly, that all the chil- 
dren of both sexes shall be baptized by 
the Catholic priest, taken to the Cath- 
olic church, sent to the Catholic school, 
and in every way taught and trained in 
the Catholic faith. 

But, if you insist on marrying a non- 
Catholic, go to your parish priest. He 
will attend to the matter for you and 
treat you well. You need not be afraid 
to mention the fact to him. And don't 
rush into some form of ceremony which 
your Church condemns, and of which 
your conscience disapproves. Your 
pastor will help you. Go to him. 

8. The time in which marriage 
cannot be solemnized by the Church 
begins on the first Sunday in Advent 
and continues until J anuary 6th ; again 
from the first Sunday in Lent until the 
first Sunday after Easter. Lent and 
Advent are seasons of penance, and oc- 



416 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



casions of joy are not encouraged dur- 
ing these seasons. 

Thoughts on Marriage. 

While numerous single men are lav- 
ishing their earnings and their affec- 
tions upon themselves and, many of 
them, developing extravagant and 
often vicious habits, many young 
women are forced to toil in our fac- 
tories and business houses for the ne- 
cessities of life. This is an unfortunate 
and unnatural state of affairs, espe- 
cially as from the ranks of the unmar- 
ried comes humanity's heaviest contri- 
bution to immorality and crime. These 
facts are well worth considering in the 
scudy of the problem of marriage. 

There is a demand, more or less pop- 
ular, to place restrictions around mar- 
riage, to prevent the immorality, crime 
and degeneracy which follows "the re- 
production of the unfit." But what 
of the decline in the reproduction of 
the fit ? "Why should not our highly de- 
veloped civilization devise some means 
to encourage our ten million fit but un- 
married persons to marry and assume 
their natural and proper place and 
part in the great scheme of humanity? 

For the Man. 

A young man should at an early age 
accustom himself to the thought of 
marriage. Marriage is a helm which 
steers tender youth along the right 
and the straight path. The first desire 
for love is pure and will remain so if 
its object is equally pure. As soon as 
a young man has achieved his prepara- 
tion for life and has entered a career, 
there must be a young woman's face 
smiling at him ; a soft and faithful 



hand stretched out to him. Life's path 
is less arduous when we have a travel- 
ling companion. Temptations are not so 
strong when we can think of a name 
and of a face. 

Do not worry if your sons develop a 
taste for receptions and other social 
functions, at which they will meet girls 
that are real girls and worthy of them. 
Do not fear the honest loves of the late 
'teens and the early twenties ; they act 
as safeguards against many a debasing 
passion. 

Be not afraid of early marriages, of 
unions into which the thought of the 
woman's dowry does not enter when 
the young man believes (and must be 
encouraged to believe) that he can 
support himself, his wife, and the chil- 
dren to be born. Beware of sordid cal- 
culations. Beware of long waits dur- 
ing which hearts may dry up or become 
corrupt. Beware of the habit of living 
for one's self, which makes very un- 
pleasant, later on, the duty of living 
for others. 

Rejoice if your son loves a true, good 
young girl. Let him see your joy. Let 
him adopt as his rule of conduct to 
"take pains"; to toil with hope; to de- 
prive himself for the sake of a noble 
ambition ; to struggle for the sake of a 
woman who will become your daughter 
and who has seemed so charming to him 
because she will not part you from him. 

The idea of preparation is often ab- 
sent, strange to say, in one of the most 
important affairs of life, the affair of 
vocation to the married state. The im- 
portance of it has always been recog- 
nized in vocations to the religious life. 
The period of preparation for the 



SHRINES OF OUR BLESSED LADY. 



Upper, interior of Basilica at Guadalupe, Mexico; lower, left, grotto at Lourdes; 
Bernadette Soubirous favored by the apparation; lower, Basilica at Lourdes. 



THE SACRAMENTS. 



417 



priesthood and the cloister extends 
over many years. But in the case of 
marriage, despite the responsibilities 
and the necessity of preparation, con- 
tracts are sometimes made with 
scarcely a thought of fitness for the 
state. This is true in the case of both 
the young men and women, but it is 
more apparent in the case of the latter. 

For the Girl. 

Very many young women earn their 
living at callings other than housework. 
Their work takes most of their time and 
strength and, apparently allows but 
little leisure wherein to acquire a prac- 
tical knowledge of housekeeping, ex- 
cept at a sacrifice. Yet that sacrifice 
is worth the making for one who is to 
marry. 

A young bride finding herself in her 
own home with little or no knowledge 
of housekeeping, especially in the 
kitchen, is to be pitied — as is also the 
young groom. Troubles are sure to 
arise unless this question is considered 
sensibly and the difficulty met, as in the 
case of other questions sure to follow. 
Many a first page of the book of mar- 
ried life would be without tear-stains 
if the man insisted that their prospec- 
tive partners be practical housekeepers. 
And girls would be saved many a tear 
and many a trial if they cared more for 
the character of the man and cared 
less for his personal appearance. 

Both young men and young women 
will do well to remember that before 
marriage, in the days of courtship, peo- 
ple are seen usually at their best. "While 
it is true that marriage will intensify 
the virtues of the parties concerned, h 



will also bring out faults that are pre- 
dominant, whatever the attempt to con- 
ceal them. 

Therefore, avoid the man who drinks, 
is constantly out of employment, is 
coarse, vulgar, selfish, fault-finding at 
home, and who is unwilling to visit you 
at your home. Or the girl who af- 
fects extreme fashions in dress, is 
slovenly, bad tempered, helpless or in- 
different about the house, who prefers 
the company of men always, or who is 
ashamed of her home, family and posi- 
tion in life. 

Divorce, Our National Shame. 

The most complete abstract ever pre- 
pared of any federal decennial census 
was issued in Washington by E. Dana 
Durand, director of the U. S. Census, 
1910. One section deals with a topic 
which should prove of vital interest to 
thinking men and women the country 
over. For the first time the census 
bureau presents comprehensive statis- 
tics regarding divorce in the United 
States, and its figures are deplorably 
significant of the widespread virulence 
of our national shame. 

The number of divorced persons in 
the country when the census was taken 
in 1910 was 156,176 men and 185,101 
women — three per cent, of the total 
male population and four per cent, of 
the total female population. It appears 
almost incredible, yet the report con- 
tains the cold, bare statement that 994 
boys and 3,715 girls less than fifteen 
years of age are listed in the numbers 
quoted ! In a note it is explained that 
the statement of divorced persons re- 
ported falls short of the total living 
persons who have succeeded in having 



418 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



their bonds declared broken, since 
many of these have remarried. It is 
conceded, too, that it seems practically 
certain the returns as to the number 
of divorced persons not remarried arc 
below the correct total. 

The record offers shocking proof of 
the levity with which marriage and the 
sacred claims of family ties are re- 
garded in the United States. It pre- 
sents, too, sorry evidence of the legal 
laxity which makes divorce cheap and 
easily secured. 

Even were it allowed us to forget 
that the marriage tie is a holy bond, 
made indissoluble through the solemn 
words of Jesus Christ when He had 
elevated the union of man and woman 
to the dignity of a Sacrament, we 
surely should not find it difficult to rec- 
ognize marriage as the most sacred and 
inviolable of all human contracts. Yet 
the statistics and figures referred to 
would appear to prove it a contract 
more readily broken than are the 
everyday business agreements entered 
into in the country's business which 
turn upon a few paltry dollars. No 
wonder the sanctity of home life and 
the beautiful traditions of home train 
ing are grown to be a mockery 
among us. 

Divorce and Race Suicide. 

The Kansas City Times has the fol- 
lowing summary of a recent report of 
the secretary of state for Ohio on the 
subject of divorce in that State : 

"More than one out of every eight 
marriages in Ohio finds its sequel in 
the divorce court. Last year 43,357 
brides vowed eternal love and obedi- 



ence at the altar. Today 5,724 of them 
are divorcees. And that is not the 
worst of it, either. In addition to the 
six thousand divorces granted, more 
than eight thousand other couples tried 
to get decrees and failed, chiefly be- 
cause of the refusal of courts to grant 
them. 

"The above figures show that, while 
more than one divorce is granted for 
every eight marriages, the total num- 
ber of divorces sought is one out of 
every three marriages." 

Significant also is the fact that the 
number of marriages in Ohio last year 
was only 43,357, as compared with 
over 46,000 in 1908. 

In France. 

If the United States give the most 
impressive object lessons in divorce, 
France, decadent and at war with the 
Church, furnishes no less eloquent sta- 
tistics in the matter of race suicide. 
Here, during the whole of the nine- 
teenth century, the birth rate declined 
every ten years with mathematical reg- 
ularity. From 1800 to 1810 there were 
32.3 births for every thousand inhabi- 
tants ; in the second decade 31.6 ; in the 
third 30.8 ; in the fourth 29 ; in the fifth 
27.4; in the sixth 26.2; in the seventh 
26.1 ; in the eighth 25.5 ; in the ninth 
23.2; in the tenth 22.2. In 1910 the 
number sank to 19.7, and in 1911 to 
18.7. Dr. Bertillon pessimistically as- 
serts that "the decreasing progression 
will continue until the complete extinc- 
tion of the race." 

In Great Britain. 

In England and Wales the registrar- 
general's report shows that in 1911 



THE SACRAMENTS. 



419 



the birth-rate was the lowest on record. 
In 1876 there were 36.3 births for 
every thousand inhabitants ; in 1911 
the number had fallen to 24.4 and pro- 
visional figures for 1912 indicate a 
further decrease of 0.6 per thousand. 
The English birth-rate is, therefore, 
now about what the foregoing figures 
show for France in the decade between 
1880-1890. 

The decrease from 1881 to 1911 was 
34 per cent. In other words, if there 
had been no decrease in the birth-rate 
during the past thirty years, the num- 
ber of children born in England and 
Wales in 1911 would have been 1,273,- 
698 instead of 843,585. 

These figures bear their own com- 
ment. It will be noticed that just as 
France has fallen away from the 
Church and the practice of religion, in 
the period before the war, the figures 
show a proportionate decrease in the 
number of births. 

Furthermore, those districts of France 
which remained steadfast in the 
Faith are those which show the highest 
birth-rate. On the continued success 
of the present religious revival de- 
pends not only the fate of the Church 
in France, but the very existence of the 
French nation 

Malthusianism. 

The excuse, by which some unmar- 
ried people seek to justify their state 
in life, and which sinful people in the 
married state find for their wrong- 
doing, has its origin largely in the 
theories advocated by the Rev. Thomas 
Malthus in England, 1798. Writing 
on the 1 ' Principle of Population, ' ' this 



man argued that population tends to 
outrun subsistence, thereby endanger- 
ing future generations, but that it is 
held in check by vice — abortion, in- 
fanticide, prostitution, and the evils of 
war. His arguments were popular with 
a certain class and, encouraged by the 
reception of his work, he went farther 
in his theories, advocating means to 
prevent increase in population. His 
chief recommendation was the practice 
of "moral restraint," that is, that per- 
sons who were unable to maintain a 
family properly, and by this he in- 
cluded individual ideas as to proper 
maintenance, should live in chaste 
celibacy until such time as they were 
in position to do so. 

Most students of economic conditions 
condemn the theories of Malthus. He 
affirmed that if the population of the 
world were to go unchecked, the num- 
ber of human beings would in two 
centuries exceed the means of subsist- 
ence as does the number 256 exceed 9. 
Yet, with more than half the time of 
his prophecy already expired there 
seems little danger. 

The population of the world today 
is no greater than it was thousands of 
years ago. And Christianity has done 
away with some of the vice and misery 
which Malthus claimed to be the only 
check on population. Enormous sec- 
tions of the world remain uninhabited 
and uncultivated. Living things that 
give us food, propagate much more 
numerously than ourselves. Subsist- 
ence, then, tends to increase faster 
than population. And man can, by 
scientific methods, make it increase all 
the faster. So, economically speaking, 



420 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



there is no fear of the evil Malthus 
predicted, and no need of the "moral 
restraint" which he advocated as a 
remedy. Even if there were, that fact 
would not excuse people taking advan- 
tage of such a theory to suit their own 
desires, or even acting upon it in appar- 
ent good faith, since ours is not the 
care of the universe, and we have no 
concern but to perform our duty in 
life as it is given us to know. 

Early Marriages. 

The Church has always encouraged 
early marriages, easily proving the fal- 
sity of the economic reasons advanced 
for withholding from the married state, 
and teaching the particular moral ad- 
vantages to be derived from thus early 
entering into the state so blessed by 
Christ. Today, the Church impresses 
upon young people the danger of fol- 
lowing present-day influences, which 
postpones marriage until the young 
couple are in prosperous financial cir- 
cumstances. The dangers of pro- 
tracted courtships are pointed out, the 
loss of spiritual blessings is emphasized 
and the utter folly of inexcusable de- 
lay impressed upon them. With every 
influence in her power the Church 
encourages early marriages as condu- 
cive, not only to health and happiness, 
but also as a positive requirement for 
morality and the proper following out 
of God's will. 

God designed marriage. He en- 
trusted to us the life-giving power. 
He intended it to be exercised on the 
attainment of maturity. He will hold 
to a severe judgment not only those 
who abuse this power, but also those 



who set back its lawful exercise without 
good and sufficient reason, thus sub- 
jecting themselves to the severest temp- 
tations. All who are old enough should 
marry. And the question of subsist- 
ence, which confronts all young 
couples, should not necessarily include 
luxuries. It is not the cost of living 
that causes fewer marriages; it is 
the desire to start in life in the same 
financial position in which the parents 
live and which has taken them years to 
accumulate. It is the cost of high 
living, too often, the desire for lux- 
urious homes and the inclination to- 
ward selfish expenditure. 

Family Limitation. 

The Church does not forbid limita- 
tion of families, unless by unlawful 
means. And positive and unnatural 
means toward the control of births is 
surely condemned. But to parents who 
keep their families small by abstention 
from the marriage intercourse, the 
Church has nothing to say. All posi- 
tive means of birth prevention are 
condemned as grievous sins. They 
mean an immoral perversion of a God- 
given faculty. To exercise this faculty 
in such way as to prevent it attain- 
ing its natural end or object is to act 
contrary to nature. Such actions are 
bad. When the faculty is so used 
that the very use of it renders its 
natural purpose impossible, it becomes 
unnatural and, therefore, sinful. 

Expert testimony of physicians of 
high rank report persons who are 
guilty of using contraceptives as hav- 
ing lost something in their married 
life which ought to have been more 



THE SACRAMENTS. 



421 



precious than life itself. (Dr. Kelly, 
John Hopkins Medical School). 

Limitation of families through such 
practices is injurious to the race. It 
leads to increase of desire for luxury, 
ease and materialism, and to a decrease 
of mental and moral discipline, of en- 
durance and of the power of achieve- 
ment. It shows a dislike for sacrifice 
and a disinclination to painful effort. 
It is generally fatal to moral qualities 
which are essential to the pursuit of 
an ideal, to mental discipline, charit- 
able service and self-denying applica- 
tion. Small families too often mean 
egotism, inefficiency, indolence and 
over indulgence in children. If there 
are superior intellectual traits or ad- 
vantages, they are more than outclassed 
by these moral disadvantages. The 
only child is, according to an investi- 
gation conducted by the Century Mag- 
azine, November, 1915, "manifestly in- 
ferior to other children." The great 
majority are "lamentably arrogant," 
"selfish," "reach manhood and wo- 
manhood sadly handicapped," "usual- 
ly nervous," "occupied with thoughts 
of self," "deficient in self-reliance." 

Eugenics and Birth Control. 

Birth control, eugenics and other 
modern fads, which are leading people 
through their euphemism to a disre- 
gard for human life and a contempt 
for the commandments, were vigor- 
ously denounced in a sermon in the 
Cathedral of Des Moines, by Right 
Rev. Austin Dowling, since appointed 
archbishop of St. Paul, Minn. Bishop 
Dowling stripped these fads of their 
elegant phraseology and plainly char- 



acterized them as crimes against God 
and man. 

' ' Christian morality is based on far- 
reaching principles. The Ten Com- 
mandments bind in their spirit as well 
as in their letter. 'Thou shalt not 
kill' is a specific prohibition based 
upon the principle that God is the 
author and the arbiter of life. The 
heinousness of murder, made heinous 
by every code of constructive morality, 
is not derived from the gruesome ac- 
cessories of some deed of violence. Mur- 
der is just as truly murder if it is pro- 
cured by painless and imperceptible 
methods. It is the unjustifiable tak- 
ing of life by private authority that 
constitutes the offense and not the 
shocking savagery of the murder. 

"I linger on these obvious observa- 
tions because of the rapidly changing 
point of view in our community. There 
is a great horror of indecency every- 
where — a general hysterical willingness 
to throw over what are called the tra- 
ditions and conventions of the past 
in the interest of liberty and to estab- 
lish a code of ethics on the ground of 
personal comfort. 

The Teaching of Sex Hygiene. 

Hygiene is known as a department 
of sanitary science which treats of the 
preservation of health, or, as a system 
of rules designed for the promotion of 
health. With the word sex attached, 
there comes to the mind an idea of 
something hard to define, and not even 
easily understood. It conveys a sug- 
gestion of morality based on thoughts 
of hygiene, alone ; a foundation which 
has nothing to do with religion, which 



422 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



is quite broad and non-sectarian, be- 
cause it is concerned with health. Sex 
hygiene is advocated by persons who 
mean well, who see in it a remedy for 
an evil as old as the world. But in 
reality it opens a way to familiarity 
with a monster of frightful appearance 
to all persons of sane mind and sound 
moral health. Like the monster of the 
poet, vice is first endured, then pitied, 
then embraced. 

The persons who thus propose to 
break down what they term the "con- 
spiracy of silence" on sex matters, 
speak glibly of the teaching which 
will surely safeguard health and elim- 
inate disease. Horrible examples are 
pictured to prove the necessity of do- 
ing something to remedy the existing 
evil. Their idea involves a complete 
and thorough discussion of sex matters 
for no other reasons than the ones 
advanced above. They would open 
the schools to such clinics, not only for 
advanced pupils, but even for younger 
children. The only motive is that they 
consider such teaching might act as a 
remedy. 

Sex Hygiene in the Schools. 

In many cities the agitation in favor 
of sex teaching secured for its advo- 
cates the opportunities desired in the 
public schools. They were given a 
free hand. In most cases, ill-informed 
persons were given charge of the 
classes. They managed to do real 
harm by inexpedient and impracticable 
discourses. Indiscreet statements were 
bandied about among the children, and 
carried home to the parents, who, after 
a realization of the harm being done, 



rose up and demanded the withdrawal 
of these 'sexual neurasthenics." Chi- 
cago, Detroit, most of the middle west 
cities, after some months' experiment- 
ing with the fad forced upon them, 
gave up the classes with an acknowl- 
edgment of failure. And even if the 
classes had been conducted by compe- 
tent and experienced physicians, we 
have the dangers of such teaching 
pointed out by Dr. Leszynsky, an em- 
inent neurologist, in a lecture delivered 
before the New York Physicians' As- 
sociation (1915), both for children and 
adults. "As a rule the more thorough 
the explanation, the greater the mis- 
interpretation. The dormant sexual in- 
stinct may thus be aroused in morbidly 
susceptible individuals, new mental 
complexes of a sexual character being 
formed, which may ultimately develop 
into various psychoneuroses. " 

Father Tierney, S. J., editor of 
America, in an address before the 
Fourth International Congress on 
School Hygiene, held in Buffalo, 1915, 
summed up the Catholic attitude on 
this question, at that time an all-absorb- 
ing issue. He said, "Eliminate the 
details of sex hygiene, train character, 
teach that purity is noble and possible, 
that vice is vile and carries its own 
punishment, that marriage is invio- 
lable, that the family is sacred, that 
knowledge is not moral power, that 
Christ, not hygiene, will cleanse the 
world." 

Mixed Marriages. 

The Catholic Church does not ap- 
prove of marriage between Catholics 
and non-Catholics. The Church, to 



THE SACRAMENTS. 



423 



show her disapprobation of mixed 
marriages, will not permit them to be 
solemnized in the house of God, nor 
with any religious ceremonies. 

But why does the Church object? 
Why cannot a Catholic marry a non- 
Catholic without a dispensation? Is 
not the Church unreasonable in placing 
obstacles in the way? No, she is not 
unreasonable. Her objection is in per- 
fect agreement with reason. She ob- 
jects because mixed marriages are op- 
posed to the very ends for which God 
instituted marriage. God instituted 
marriage that the man and wife might 
mutually assist each other in knowing, 
loving and serving Him, that they 
might be companions on the road to 
Heaven and that they might teach their 
children the way to Heaven. In mixed 
marriages both these ends are frus- 
trated. We speak of mixed marriages 
as a rule. There are exceptions, of 
course. 

The parties constituting a mixed 
marriage cannot be companions on the 
road to Heaven, since they are trying 
to go there by separate roads. They can- 
not assist each other in the knowledge 
and service of God, since what one says 
God teaches, the other says is a mock- 
ery or idolatry. They can have no 
family prayer with its elevating in- 
fluence. In fact, everything pertaining 
to religion, even the name of God, must 
be prohibited, "for peace sake." In the 
household, everything has its time and 
place except the one thing necessary; 
every topic, whether of gain or enjoy- 
ment, has its interest and is talked 
over with pleasure and profit, but if 
mention is made of religion an ani- 



mated discussion arises or a coldness 
ensues that has no elevating effect. 
Even when both are of the same re- 
ligion, difference of natural disposition 
may and often does cause much unhap- 
piness and misery. How much more so 
when of different religions. They dis- 
agree upon that which above all they 
should agree upon. If man and wife 
are one, they should be one in religion, 
one in everything. A disunited family 
makes a desolate home. Unity and har- 
mony should characterize the life of the 
family. This is impossible when they 
differ in religion, when one is a Catho- 
lic. Before marriage all is sunshine; 
not a cloud appears to darken the sky; 
no fear is felt for the future. Prom- 
ises are easily made and may be as 
easily broken. In nine cases out of ten 
they are broken. You know that when 
the Church grants a dispensation for a 
Catholic to marry a Protestant, both 
parties must promise: First, that the 
Catholic will have full liberty to prac- 
tice the teachings of the Catholic re- 
ligion ; second, that all the children 
shall be baptized by the Catholic priest 
and trained in the Catholic faith. How 
long are these promises kept? How 
often are they kept for even one year? 
Seldom. Very, very seldom. Many 
think when they hear priests preaching 
on the evil of mixed marriages that 
much of what is said is exaggerated. 
But priests have seen such sacred prom- 
ises broken, such woe, such misery, such 
heart-achings and breakings resulting 
from mixed marriages that they are 
firmly convinced that half of the evils 
have not been told and that it would be 
infinitely better for any and every 



424 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Catholic young woman never to marry 
than to marry a man who is not a Cath- 
olic. It is difficult for non-Catholics 
to understand this. But it will not be 
so difficult to understand when they re- 
member that to the Catholic who has 
been well trained in his religion there 
is nothing dearer to his heart, that it is 
his aid in need, his consolation in af- 
fliction, his strength in temptations and 
persecutions and that he will work for 
it. he'll fight and if need be, he'll die 
for it. 

If this religion is so dear to him, if 
he will do so much for it, he will not 
expose himself to the danger of losing 
it. "He who loves mother or father 
more than Me," says Our Savior, "is 
not worthy of Me." The good Catholic 
who really loves his religion as he 
ought, loves it better than any man or 
woman, than anything upon earth, and 
he will not run the risk of losing it for 
anybody or anything upon earth, as the 
person does who enters a mixed mar- 
riage. He or she is not the only one 
exposed. The second end for which 
God instituted marriage is to bring up 
children to know and love God. Thou- 
sands of children are lost to the Faith 
in the United States as the result of 
mixed marriages. Of the many millions 
of our population only twelve or four- 
teen millions are practical Catholics ; 
whereas at least thirty or forty millions 
ought to be Catholics. This last is 
caused largely by mixed marriages. 
Perhaps you doubt this. Every priest 
can tell you that the results of mixed 
marriages are disastrous. 

But you natter yourselves that it will 
not be the same in your case. So did 



every one of the countless thousands, 
who, notwithstanding the warnings of 
friendly voices, struck the rock that 
shipwrecked themselves and numbers 
of others. 

Young men and young women, if you 
are associating with non-Catholics with 
a view to marriage, withdraw before it 
is too late, before you are sorry. Fa- 
thers and mothers, for God's sake, for 
your own sake, for the sake of your 
children, for the sake of your own im- 
mortal souls and the souls of hundreds 
of others do not allow your children 
to mingle with non-Catholics. Stop the 
evil in its source before it goes too far. 
Better — far better for your happiness 
in this world, as well as in the next, 
never to marry than to marry a non- 
Catholic and have unhappiness here 
and hereafter. 

Defectives and Marriage. 

The marriage of defective and sub- 
normal persons presents a very com- 
plex subject The Church always looks 
upon the spiritual and moral side of 
individuals and institutions as more 
important than their physical aspects 
and consequences. She regards mar- 
riage as a considerable aid to right liv- 
ing, and she regards the offspring not 
merely as a more or less perfect organ- 
ism, but as a person possessing a spirit- 
ual and immortal soul. Hence, she de- 
sires that the individual should have 
reasonable liberty with regard to mar- 
riage. She counts the earthly exist- 
ence of a helpless cripple, a chronic in- 
valid, or, even a mental weakling, in- 
trinsically good, and she teaches that 
all such persons are capable of a life 



THE SACRAMENTS. 



425 



of eternal happiness, face to face with 
God. The average thinker outside the 
Church regards them with the same 
standard as they apply to a horse or a 
dog. The Church does not believe that 
the interests of society are injured 
sufficiently to deny such individuals the 
rights and privileges of normal life 

The right of any individual to 
marry, the worth of a human soul, its 
sacredness and the dignity of the hu- 
man person more than overbalance the 
possibility of defective offspring Even 
lepers are not forbidden to marry, 
since they may do so in right mind. 
Insane persons alone are forbidden, be- 
cause they are incapable of entering 
into a contract, not for any other rea- 
son 

To forbid marriages among persons 
so afflicted, on the ground that their 
offspring would be subnormal, would 
bring in the question of establishing 
just what is a defective and what kind 
of defectiveness is hereditary. Some 
would extend the class of defectives so 
broadly as to cover a very large pro- 
portion of citizens, leaving only what 
are sometimes termed supermen and su- 
perwomen. Even if a rational definition 
of defectives was adopted, it is not by 
any means certain that they transmit 
their disabilities to their offspring. In- 
sanity and feeblemindness might be so 
handed down ; alcoholic degeneration 
and venereal diseases are sometimes 
traced, but there is not the slightest 
evidence to prove that moral degen- 
eracy is transmissible to the offspring. 
So the attitude of the Church seems 
eminently fair, prudent and reasona- 
ble. 



The Church does not need to legis- 
late, even if there should be reason for 
so doing, in the cases of the more pro- 
nounced victims of feeblemindedness. 
The state cares for them in confinement. 
Here, the clergy would use judgment 
and tact in discouraging undesirable 
unions without the need of a rigid 
church prohibition In the less pro- 
nounced cases of feeblemindedness, as 
well as of alcoholic and venereal de- 
generates, the same tact and judgment 
would be used, not so much because of 
the assumed transmissability as for the 
sake of the welfare and happiness of 
the persons themselves. The laws of 
hereditary must be better understood 
than they are today before the Church 
will ever legislate upon these possible 
matrimonial impediments. The danger 
to society from inherited defects must 
be more clearly demonstrated. There 
must be more fact and less theory. 
Only a few states have legislated on the 
point, and in the opinion of Professor 
Ellwood (The Social Problem, p. 129), 
"it is a dangerous or at east a ques- 
tionable law" 

Agenics. 

Under the above title Father M. J. 
Eiordan, S. J., in the Catholic Mind, 
speaks of the "science of the deliber- 
ate annihilation of human life, the 
the science of the purposely childless 
wife." He speaks of the woman thus 
classified, with a dog in her arms, as 
the uttermost symbol of failure, who 
"through deliberate will establishes a 
dumb brute in the affections that were 
made to cherish a wingless cherub 
fashioned in the very image of God." 



426 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



He points out that no other failure in 
life can compare with the supreme 
failure, "which reaches out into the 
mysterious realm that precedes life, to 
the enactment there, by an act against 
nature, of a tragedy compared with 
which all other ills are commonplace. 
In that realm, which is the eternal 
counsel of God, there are myriad souls 
awaiting the co-operation of women 
for creation and incarnation. She 
alone can defeat the eternal design 
of God ; she alone can make it 
effective." The woman thus decides 
that "as far as she is concerned crea- 
tion shall end with her. She does not 
will to reject the gift of life for her- 
self; but she decides that the line cf 
life, in so far as it depends on her, 
shall come to an abrupt close. ' ' 

What is the extent of the sin thus 
committed 1 Indeed, all sin sinks into 
comparative insignificance beside this 
enormity. All parallel, terrible as it 
may appear, is small in the face of the 
fact. "No other being beside such a 
woman can or will dry up and make 
barren the source of life, and that to 
no other purpose than that she may 
riot more abundantly, though it be 
only the silly riot of idleness and self- 
indulgence. ' ' 

Nor do such women stop at such utter 
defiance of God's creative act. They 
strive to appear to the world as su- 
perior beings, as angels of light to their 
less fortunate sisters who still continue 
to prize the children whom God sends 
to them. And the appearance of these 
indulgent society favorites, the evident 
enjojment of life which is theirs, af- 
fects very seriously those mothers who 



are keenly aware of the sacrifices they 
are making in the performance of their 
duties. Envy gives way to imitation 
and the evil is done. "Thus is the 
woman who flaunts her Creator made 
to spread sin and sorrow like a plague 
among the wholesome members of the 
community she infests, while gullible 
society is lost in admiration of the dear 
soul who is so interested in civic wel- 
fare" 

Malthus Extremists. 

There are many people in the 
world of today who go much farther 
than Malthus, the original theorist, in 
their recommendations. Methods other 
than chaste abstention from, or post- 
ponement of marriage are openly ad- 
vocated by this newer school. Some 
urge the limitation of offspring as a 
means whereby the labor of the poorest 
workman might be made scarce and 
expensive. They accepted the original 
theory of Malthus, only qualifying the 
word "subsistence" to include luxu- 
ries, or at least an unusually comforta- 
ble living. Their practices have been 
very deceptive. They use theory as a 
cloak to cover their own sins very 
often. They appeal to popularity by 
pretending to help society when they 
really aim only at diminishing it. Their 
arguments appeal to the easy-going, 
conscienceless class, who either care 
nothing about it, or else deceive them- 
selves into thinking that they are really 
aiding the universe when they only 
belp themselves Faddists, usually of 
the wealthier class, declare openly that 
theirs is information which all should 
have. They, the worldly-wise, look down 
upon the poor, who continue to bring 



THE SACRAMENTS. 



427 



children into the world. Theirs is the 
unholy enlightenment which prompts 
couples to indulge the privileges of the 
married state to any excess and to 
shun its duties. They openly advocate 
the vilest practices in terms which 
should disgust any right minded per- 
son, aiming to defend their own atti- 
tude and to excuse their misdeeds. 

Within the last few years such com- 
pounds as "birth-control," "birth-re- 
striction, " " contraception, ' ' and ' ' con- 
traceptives" have become quite com- 
mon. They are freely used in lectures 
to working girls in factories and shops, 
used to illustrate devices for the limita- 
tion of families. Formerly such public 
discussion was considered indelicate, to 
say the least. Today, self-styled ladies 
of culture proclaim brazenly their up- 
to-date ideas of ease and duty-shirk- 
ing. It is easy for such people to adopt 
the theories of Malthus as an excuse 
for avoiding the duty of motherhood, 
and even to go many steps farther than 
this economist. It sounds well to con- 
demn the bringing of many children 
into the world by poor parents, when 
the rich, who can better afford it, do 
not make it a duty to produce one. 
They will urge their sinful knowledge 
upon mothers in their propaganda of 
feminism. They insist that children 
be not brought into the world since 
the world does not need them, as they 
claim, and the state would only turn 
them into soldiers to be shot. 

Marriage Instruction. 

The impressive ceremonies with 
which the Church surrounds the ad- 
ministration of this Sacrament, the 



words of the marriage service itself, 
convey the deep significance of the 
ceremony, a fact sure to impress itself 
upon the contracting parties. The 
prayer of exhortation is very beauti- 
ful: 

"My dear friends: You are about 
to enter into a union which is most 
sacred and most serious. It is most 
sacred, because established by God 
Himself; most serious because it will 
bind you together for life in a rela- 
tionship so close and so intimate, that 
it will profoundly influence your 
whole future. That future, with its 
hopes and disappointments, its suc- 
cesses and its failures, its pleasures and 
its pains, its joys and its sorrows, is 
hidden from your eyes. You know 
that these elements are mingled in 
every life and are to be expected in 
your own. And so, not knowing what 
is before you, you take each other for 
better or for worse, for richer or for 
poorer, in sickness and in health, un- 
til death. 

"Truly, then, these words are most 
serious. It is a beautiful tribute to 
your undoubted faith in each other, 
that, recognizing their full import, you 
are nevertheless willing and ready to 
pronounce them. And because these 
words involve such solemn obligations, 
it is most fitting that you rest the se- 
curity of your wedded life upon the 
great principle of self-sacrifice. And 
so you begin your married life, by 
the voluntary and complete surrender 
of your individual lives in the inter- 
est of that deeper and wider life which 
you are to have in common. Hence- 
forth you will belong entirely to each 



428 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



other; you will be one in mind, one 
in heart, and one in affections. And 
whatever sacrifices you may hereafter 
be required to make, to preserve this 
common life, always make them gener- 
ously. Sacrifice is usually difficult and 
irksome. Only love can make it easy; 
and perfect love can make it a joy. 
God so loved the world that He gave 
His only begotten Son; and the Sou 
so loved us that He gave Himself for 
our salvation. ' ' Greater love than this 
no man hath, than that he lay down 
his life for his friends. 

"No greater blessing can come to 
your married life than pure conjugal 
love, loyal and true to the end. May, 
then, this love, with which you joiu 
your hands and hearts today, never 
fail, but grow deeper and stronger as 
the years go on. And if true love and 
the unselfish spirit of perfect sacrifice 
guide your every action, you may ex- 
pect the greatest measure of earthly 
happiness that can be allotted to man 
in this vale of tears. The rest is in 
the hands of God. Nor will God be 
wanting to your needs ; He will pledge 
you the life-long support of His graces 
in the Holy Sacrament which you now 
are going to receive." 



The Marriage Ceremony. 

The priest asks the man: 
wilt thou take here pres- 
ent, for thy lawful wife, according to 
the rite of our Holy Mother the 
Church? 

Ans. I will. 

The priest asks the bride : 
wilt thou take here pres- 
ent for thy lawful husband, according 
to the rite of our Holy Mother the 
Church? 

Ans. I will. 

Then, having joined hands with the 
bride, the man says : 

I, , take thee, ,for my 

lawful wife, to have and to hold, from 
this day forward, for better, for worse, 
for richer, for poorer, in sickness and 
in health, until death do us part. 

The priest pronounces the above 
words first for the man, then for the 
woman, 'each separately repeating them 
after him. Then the two kneel, while 
the priest pronounces the further 
words of the ceremony, in which their 
union is blessed, the ring is given and 
a further exhortation offered "to ask 
God's blessing upon the newly united 
couple. 



Bibliography. 

Christ's Teaching Concerning Divorce, Gigot; Pastoral Theol- 
ogy, Slang; The Blessed Sacrament, Manning; Catholic Worship, 
Gisler: Sacramental Life, Otten: Who Can Forgive Sin. Danehy; 
Educating to Purity, Gatlerer; The Marriage State, Poland; Plain 
Gold Ring, Kane; Catechism Explained, Spirago-Clarke; Catholic 
Belief; History of the Mass, O'Brien; Ceremonies Explained, 
Keatinge: Explanations of Catholic Worship, Lambert; Miracles, 
Hogan; Mixed Marriages, Bampfield. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

Sacramentals and Pious Practices. 

Sacramentals — Sign of the Cross— Grace at Meals — Use of Holy Water- 
Scapulars — Scapular Medals — Sacred Pictures — Incense — The Angelus — Missions — 
Church Blessings — Saluting Jesus — Deference to Priests and Sisters — Prayer and 
Litanies — Use of a Prayer Book — The Cross and Crucifix — Symbols of the Cross — 
Calvary Relics — Santa Claus and Christmas Customs — Catholic or Roman Catholic — 
Devotion to Our Blessed Lady — Mariolatry — Her Apparitions on Earth — Lourdes — 
Our Lady of Guadalupe — Patroness of America — The Hail Mary — Miracles — Proof 
of Divine Origin of the Church — Scientific Attempt at Explanation — Cases at 
Lourdes — St. Januarius' Blood — Who are Members of the Church?— The Truce 
of God — The Hero of Molokai — The Red Cross and its Origin — Considerateness 
in Public Worship— How to Hear Mass — The Hurry Out Catholic — Catholic Fashions 
of Speech — Offering of Masses. 



Sacramentals. 

The points of difference between 
the seven Sacraments and what are 
known to us as Sacramentals are 
thus stated by Father Lambing, in 
his work entitled "The Sacramentals 
of the Holy Catholic Church": 

"In the first place, the Sacraments 
were instituted by Christ for all time, 
and their number was fixed, so that 
it can never be increased or dimin- 
ished; while the Sacramentals were 
instituted for the most part by the 
Church, and she can increase or di- 
minish their number as circumstances 
may demand or fthe spiritual wel- 
fare of her children render expedi- 
ent. In the second place, the Sac- 
raments have in themselves the 
power of giving grace to those who 
receive them with the requisite dis- 
positions, while the Sacramentals 
only excite such pious dispositions in 
those who make use of them as will 



prepare them for the more easy and 
effectual reception of grace." 

Among the Sacramentals are 
prayer, especially the public prayers 
of the Church ; the Sign of the Cross, 
the use of Holy Water, Acts of Con- 
fession and humility (like the act of 
being marked with the blessed ashes 
on Ash Wednesday), almsgiving, and 
deeds of charity, and blessed articles 
(such as blessed candles, scapulars, 
medals and rosaries). 

The Sign of the Cross. 

By making the sign of the Cross — 
blessing ourselves, as the familiar ex- 
pression goes — we not only confess 
the Most Holy Trinity, not only re- 
member the One God in Three Per- 
sons to whom we owe all we are, but 
also signify our belief, love and trust 
in Him and consecrate ourselves and 
our actions to the Father, the Son 
and the Holy Ghost. And, also, we 
cannot but remember, as we trace 



430 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



the likeness of the Cross on fore- 
head, breast and shoulders, that our 
Lord Jesus, God the Son made Man, 
suffered and died on the Cross to 
accomplish our salvation. It follows 
that to make the sign of the Cross 
must necessarily be a holy and salu- 
tary practice, beside being one which 
has been handed down to us from 
the earliest ages of Christianity, from 
the days of the Apostles themselves. 

Grace at Meals. 

Another beautiful practice is that 
of saying grace before and after 
meals. We all learned this habit 
while young. How many of us keep 
it up later in life? How many of 
us keep it up at home and then for- 
get about it while away? And in 
these days when we eat in restau- 
rants and hotels, just so often do we 
forget or ignore his beautiful cus- 
tom. But wh.-ther we forget or de- 
liberately ignore it, what a pity ! 
Even if we think there is no harm iv 
refusing to make a public display of 
this devotion, whether we are called 
upon to do this or not, at least let 
us say the prayer privately and qui- 
etly, preserving one, at least, of those 
customs which mark the spread of 
faith. 

The Use of Holy Water. 

Holy Water is ordinary water ap- 
propriately blessed for various pur- 
poses. This practice in the Church 
goes back to the earliest days of the 
Christian Era, and is most likely de- 
rived from the Old Testament. 

With the development of its use 
came the Holy Water fonts, now 



found at the entrance to every Cath- 
olic church and chapel. It is proper 
for the entering worshiper to sprin- 
kle himself with the Holy Water 
therein as a reminder of the blessed 
water of baptism by which he first 
entered the Church and became an 
heir to the kingdom of heaven. It 
is a symbol of the cleanliness of mind 
and heart that we should bring with 
us to participate in the worship of 
God. 

It is also right that Holy Water 
should be kept in every Catholic 
household: that the members of the 
family may form the habit of dipping 
their finger in the Holy Water stoup 
and make the sign of the Cross fre- 
quently during the day. This cus- 
tom is sure to help, by causing us to 
think of God and confess our faith 
many a time, every twenty-four 
hours. Indeed, Holy Church has at- 
tached an indulgence to the act of 
making the Sign of the Cross with 
the aid of Holy Water. 

Scapulars and Medals. 

Scapulars and medals remind every 
Catholic of the Blessed Mother of 
God. The scapular or the medal 
reminds him of His Mother, who is 
God's Mother, too, and of her pray- 
ers for him, and it acts as a reminder 
that he should live so as to please 
that Immaculate Mother. There is 
no superstition about the use of such 
things. Even bad Catholics use 
them, and then they are as a rem- 
nant of faith once possessed which 
their wearers expect one day to re- 
gain. What else, till he repents, can 



SACRAMENTALS, PIOUS PRACTICES. 431 



a poor sinner have? And not one 
who uses these articles has the right 
to believe that they have any merit 
of their own. The Church express- 
erly emphasizes this fact. 

Meaning of Scapulars. 

The word scapular is derived from 
the Latin word meaning shoulder- 
blade. It is an imitation of the mon- 
astic habit worn by monks. The 
common significance of the Scapular 
is that of a badge showing the devo- 
votion of the wearer to the purpose 
of some religious order or to the 
Mother of God. The most commonly 
worn Scapular is that of Mount Car- 
mel. The spiritual significance of 
this Scapular is that they who wear 
it wish to use it as a sign or badge 
of their veneration and devotion to 
Mary, the Mother of our Lord. Won- 
derful graces and indulgences are 
held out to those who wear them con- 
stantly and perform the works de- 
manded by faithful membership in 
the confraternity. These graces are 
based on the promise of the Blessed 
Virgin to St. Simon Stock: "Take, 
beloved son, this Scapular of thy or- 
der as a badge of my confraternity 
* * * whoever dies in this garment 
will not suffer everlasting fire. It 's 
a sign of salvation, a safeguard in 
dangers, a pledge of peace and of 
the covenant." It is not a sin when 
one, through carelessness and neglect, 
disregards the Scapulars ; at least it 
is not a serious sin. 

A Scapular Medal, endowed with 
the proper blessing, may replace the 



Scapular of Mount Carmel without 
special enrollment. 

The Sacred Congregation of Rites 
grants to Bishops and superior gen- 
erals with the power to sub-delegate 
and directly also to priests who peti- 
tion for it, the faculty of blessing 
medals bearing the image of the 
Blessed Virgin on one side and Our 
Lord Jesus Christ on the other side. 
All scapular medals blessed must 
correspond with the new rule, which 
takes the place of the five Scapulars 
most usually worn; namely: The 
Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of 
Seven Dolors, Our Lady of Mt. Car- 
mel, the red Scapular of the Passion 
and that of the Holy Trinity. The 
faithful must have received in the 
regular way the Scapulars for which 
they wish to substitute the Medal for 
the sake of convenience and cleanli- 
ness. The wearer sharing in the 
same indulgences and privileges as if 
he wore the Scapular. 

It is not necessary that the Medal 
should be worn around the neck. It 
is sufficient to carry it. It may be 
worn anywhere. 

The Mission of Sacred Pictures. 

Adorn the walls of the home with 
holy pictures. What can be more 
beautiful than the Good Shepherd, 
the Sacred Heart, the Madonna, the 
Holy Family — teaching from the 
walls silent lessons that the children 
will never forget? A landscape or 
a bit of sea is pleasant to look upon, 
but how much more profitable when 
it is also a scene from the life of 
Christ. Take, for instance, the scene 



432 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



at Lake Genesereth — the stretch of 
land, the tranquil water, the rever- 
ent listeners, and Christ standing 
among them all, who are intent on 
the "Word. 

But what do we see most fre- 
quently in the living rooms of the 
Catholic home? Certainly not a 
sacred picture. There are some Catho- 
lic homes where there is not a sacred 
picture in any room in the house — 
not even in the sleeping rooms. It is 
Dot surprising to find the members of 
the family living in such a home cool 
in regard to the practice of their re- 
ligion. They do grudgingly what the 
law of the Church exacts, but, there is 
no love in their hearts, no loyalty that 
would cause them to proclaim their 
faith to the stranger on the threshold, 
by the evidence of a Catholic picture 
even in the hall. 

The Use of Incense. 

The use of incense often puzzles 
non-Catholics. Yet it is full of deep 
and holy meaning. When the priest 
and his attendants enter the sanctu- 
ary at the opening of Benediction, you 
may notice that the little procession 
is headed by a server called "thuri- 
fer" (incense bearer), vested in cas- 
sock and surplice, who carries, or 
swings, a censer or "thurible." The 
latter is an ornamental metal box 
fitted with a movable lid, and sus- 
pended from the thurifer's hand by 
several long chains. It contains 
lighted charcoal. Twice during the 
ordinary Benediction service, the 
Priest will rise from his knees, and 
will drop some grains of incense on 



to the coal, and, after bowing low, 
will sing the thurible upwards toward 
the "throne" on which the Blessed 
Sacrament reposes. What does all 
this mean? If you are familiar with 
your Bible you will easily understand 
it. "Let my prayer be guided (like 
incense) in Thy sight." (Ps. cxl, 2, 
Douay; Ps. cxli, 2, A. V.) It is well 
for objectors to the use of incense in 
the services of the Catholic Church to 
remember that its use was first pre- 
scribed by Almighty God Himself. 
(Exod. i, 27, 34; Luke i, 9, 10.) 

The Angelus. 

The angelus is purely Christian in 
its origin, its character, and its scope. 
It originated in the custom of ringing 
church bells at sunset, beginning as 
early as the thirteenth century, grad- 
ually being introduced into different 
countries later. It became known under 
different names, but it was always a 
signal for the covering or extinguish- 
ing of all fires or lights, and retiring of 
the inmates of the house to rest after 
a prayer of thanksgiving for the day's 
benefits. 

St. Bonaventure, in 1226, ordered 
this triple salutation of the Bessed Vir- 
gin, called the Angelus, to be recited 
every evening at six o'clock, in honor 
of the incomprehensible mystery of the 
Incarnation Later authorities recom- 
mended its recitation and on various 
occasions the church has granted indul- 
gences to those who recite the Angelus 
in the prescribed way. This means 
that all the faithful, who every day, at 
the sound of the bell in the morning 
or at noon or in the evening, shall say 



SACRAMENTALS, PIOUS PRACTICES. 433 



devoutly the Angelus Domini, with the 
Hail Mary three times, may gain the 
indulgence mentioned 

It is here noted that although on 
some points the Holy Father mitigated 
the conditions for gaining indulgences, 
he at the same time added an obligation 
which had not previously existed — that 
of reciting the versicles and prayer 
after the three Hail Marys. 

From Saturday evening until Sun- 
day evening, both inclusive, the An- 
gelus is recited standing, in honor of 
the Most Holy Trinity. During the 
Easter season the Kegina Coeli re- 
places it. 

The Prayer. 

The Angel of the Lord declared unto 
Mary: and she conceived of the Holy 
Ghost. 

Hail Mary, etc. 

Behold the handmaid of the Lord ; 
may it be done unto me according to 
Thy word. Hail Mary, etc. 

And the Word was made flesh, and 
dwelt among us. Hail Mary, etc. 

V. Pray for us, Holy Mother of 
God. 

R. That we may be made worthy of 
the promises of Christ. 

Let Us Pray. 

Pour forth, we beseech Thee, Lord, 
Thy grace into our hearts, that we, to 
whom the Incarnation of Christ, Thy 
Son, was made known by the message 
of an angel may by His Passion and 
Cross be brought to the glory of His 
Resurrection. Through the same Christ 
Our Lord. Amen. 

Glory be to the Father. (3 times.) 



Missions. 

The influence of the world upon even 
good practical members of the Church 
is such that even they find it necessary 
from time to time to quicken their faith 
and piety by some extraordinary atten- 
tion to religious exercises. It is a great 
problem for pastors in charge of souls 
— just as important as to convert the 
heathen — to so arrange matters that 
their people have opportunity for such 
unusual attention to duty. Such Mis- 
sions have been the practice of the 
Church for centuries, in practically 
every age of its existence. It was ap- 
plied with an extraordinary success 
by St. Dominic and St. Francis, but 
its reduction to a system was probably 
due to St. Vincent de Paul when he 
preached his first mission to the peas- 
ants at Folleville, France. The Jesuits, 
the Redemptorists, the Passionists, the 
Viatorians, the Dominicans, the Fran- 
ciscans and many other religious com- 
munities are especially active along the 
line of missionary endeavor, realizing 
the especial benefits to be gained. Some 
places have Mission bands who work 
continually within the limits of the 
diocese, the methods employed consist- 
ing of a series of sermons and instruc- 
tions with religious exercises lasting 
over a fixed number of days or even 
weeks. In each case the approbation 
of the ordinary of the diocese is ob- 
tained. 

Object. 

The object of a Mission is to offer 
extraordinary opportunities for hear- 
ing the Word of God and for worthily 
receiving the Sacraments. The Church 



434 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



enriches with wonderful favors those 
who make a Mission well ; and we should 
all earnestly pray to God that not one 
member of the parish may fail to profit 
by this season of grace. In the words 
of St. Paul : ' ' We exhort you, that 
you receive not the grace of God in 
vain. For He saith: In an accepted 
time have I heard thee ; and in the day 
of salvation have I helped thee. Be- 
hold, now is the accepted time ; behold 
now is the day of salvation." 

Mission Indulgences. 

The usual indulgences to be gained 
by the faithful during missions and 
retreats are the following : 

1. An indulgence of seven years 
and seven quarantines for each instruc- 
tion or sermon one hears during the 
Mission. 

Conditions: Sorrow for sin, visit t< 
a church and prayer for the intentiom 
of the Sovereign Pontiff. 

2. A Plenary Indulgence any time 
during the Mission by hearing at least 
three discourses. 

Conditions: Confession, communion, 
visit and prayer. 

3. A Plenary Indulgence at the 
close of the Mission by all who receive 
the papal blessing. 

Announcement of special Indul- 
gences is always made. Our people will 
be guided by such announcement. 

The Blessings of the Church. 

By the blessing of the Church we 
mean the authorized ceremonies and 
prayers of her qualified ministers by 
which persons and things are sancti- 
fied or dedicated to Divine service. 



The Church blesses everything she 
uses. This blessing is not such an 
absurd thing as some who know noth- 
ing about it imagine it to be. It is sim- 
ply a prayer said by the priest asking 
God to send His blessings upon the 
person or thing indicated. 

The priest, when blessing anything, 
uses different forms of prayers or- 
dained by the Church to implore God's 
blessing upon the articles before using 
them 

He receives the power and authority 
to bless in the sacrament of Holy Or- 
ders. 

This blessing of churches, schools, 
houses, candles and various other 
things has its foundation in Scripture. 
We learn from the Old Testament of 
the solemn blessing of the Temple of 
Solomon. St. Paul tells us in the 
fourth chapter of his first Epistle to 
Timothy that "every creature is sanc- 
tified by the word of God and prayer. ' ' 

Churches, schools, houses, bells, 
books, candles, water, animals and per- 
sons are creatures. Therefore, accord- 
ing to St. Paul they may receive the 
blessing of the Church and be "sancti- 
fied by the word of God and prayer." 

We do not claim that those things 
that are blessed have any efficacy in 
themselves. We hope and believe, 
however, that God in His infinite 
mercy and goodness will protect and 
bless those who use them with right 
dispositions. 

Articles blessed by the Church ex- 
cite pious dispositions in those who 
use them rightly, remind them of holy 
things and elevate their minds to God. 



SACRAMENTALS, PIOUS PRACTICES. 435 



Deference to Priests and Sisters. 

To salute a priest by lifting one's 
hat is a mark of respect and an ac- 
knowledgment of the spiritual author- 
ity vested in the priesthood. One of the 
greatest universal evils in the world 
today is the minimizing of authority, 
and in consequence the outward marks 
of respect for those vested with its 
power are diminished. 

Unquestionably, there should be def- 
erence shown to the spiritual authority 
vested in the priest. The men of Amer- 
ica, rich and poor, young and old, ought 
to stand as a unit in paying an out- 
ward mark of respect to their priests 
by tipping their hats. 

Due acknowledgment always will be 
made by a priest thus recognized, un- 
less it be that he is bearing the Blessed 
Sacrament on a sick call. Catholics 
will understand and not expect the 
usual social amenities from a priest 
bent upon such an errand. 

There are few Catholics who will not 
properly salute a sister. The appeal 
of her sex alone, to say nothing of the 
especial dignity of the sisterhood, and 
a fitting recognition of the sacrifices 
made for religion every day of her life, 
demand courtesy and respect from the 
people they serve. This is a universal 
tribute to the sisters which finds vent 
in this slight outward expression in 
polite salutation, when meeting them 
on the street. 

Prayer and the Litanies. 

The word Litany means a pious sup- 
plication or an ardent prayer to God 
to hear us, or to the Saints to intercede 
for us. Thus the words "Lord, have 



mercy on me" constitute a litany, and 
the same is true in regard to the 
words, "Holy Mary, pray for us" 

Each supplication is a litany, though 
the supplication may be arranged in 
the form of a set Such a set is always 
referred to as the Litany in the plural, 
because it is made up of many litanic 
invocations, but in English it is cus- 
tomay to refer to it in the singular 

If we except those contained in the 
Bible, the Church has approved of only 
four litanies. These are the Litany of 
the Saints, the Litany of the Blessed 
Virgin, or of Loretto as it is some- 
times called, the Litany of the Holy 
Name of Jesus, and the Litany of the 
Sacred Heart. The Church has not ap- 
proved of any other, nor does she allow 
any other to be used in her public 
services. There is a large number of 
other litanies in use, however, and 
though the Church does not sanction 
them, she does not forbid the use of any 
found in authorized prayer books. 

The most striking features of the 
litanies is the constant repetition and 
the distinction between the invocations 
to God or any of the three Divine Per- 
sons, and those to the saints. God or 
the saints are invoked a number of 
times under different titles, mystical 
figures and favorite appellations. It 
cannot be doubted that this form of 
prayer is pleasing to God, for the Old 
Testament abounds in it, and our Lord 
approved of it and recommended it. 
A notable example is that of the man 
who in the middle of the night im- 
portuned his neighbor to arise and lend 
him loaves of bread, according to the 
parable. Another example is that of 



436 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



the blind man who sat by the wayside 
begging. He kept crying out, "Jesus, 
Son of David, have mercy on me," 
until our Lord, heeding his constant 
repetitions, turned and restored his 
sight. But there is a sharp distinction 
between the invocations to God and to 
His saints. God is always beseeched 
to have mercy on us, to hear us, to help 
us, while the saints are always asked 
to pray and make intercession for us. 
This distinction marks a fundamental 
doctrine in Catholic teaching. 

The litanies should be a favorite 
form of prayer. It is well to recite the 
Litany of the Saints at such times as 
the Church requires it in her public 
offices, namely, the Ember Days, Roga- 
tion Days, Ordination Days, and the 
feast of St. Mark, April 25th. To make 
reparation for blasphemy, bad lan- 
guage and cursing, the Litany of the 
Holy Name, or of the Sacred Heart 
should be said. They will be found to 
be sources of great spiritual blessing. 
Use of a Prayer Book. 
A prayer book is a necessary com- 
panion, not only in church but at al- 
most all times. Everyone should have 
one while attending religious exercises, 
and make good use of it, especially at 
Mass. In every prayer book will be 
found devotional reading suited to the 
wants and tastes of different classes 
of people. We should become familiar 
with the different parts, so as to be 
able to turn at once to anything re- 
quired. Only by following, for instance, 
the Ordinary of the Mass as outlined 
in the prayer books and by noting the 
accompanying explanations, can one 
properly and appreciatively accom- 



pany the priest at Mass. In such case 
the fruits and graces obtained are cor- 
respondingly greater. 

If for and reason the prayer book 
is not at hand, take out the beads and 
say the Rosary carefully meditating 
on the mysteries. Always carry the 
beads about your person. Never be 
without them. 

The Cross and the Crucifix. 

The cross, represented in its simplest 
form by the crossing of two lines at 
right angles is very ancient, antedating 
Christianity by many centuries. In 
those days it had some decorative prom- 
inence, but was held in esteem rather 
for symbolic and religious reasons. By 
its Sanskrit name, Swastika, it is best 
known to archaeologists. In this form 
it has been known in almost every part 
of the world. It is found among the 
relics of nearly all peoples. It is made 
up of the outlines of four capital Greek 
letters, united at their bases. Swastika 
was a sacred sign in India, held a 
solemn meaning for both Brahmins and 
Buddhists. It was held by others as an 
emblem of the Aryan pantheon. Even 
today it is a common ornament on cor- 
ners of table covers, rugs, linoleum, etc. 
By some it is considered an embem of 
good luck. Many other symbols varying 
slightly in form are thus anciently con- 
nected with the cross. 

The use of the cross for crucifixion 
of living persons was common among 
the Romans and there is mention of it 
among other nations. In its primitive 
form, crucifixion took place upon 
trees. A single upright was used also, 
the transverse bar being added on 
which to better fasten the victim. It 



SACRAMENTALS, PIOUS PRACTICES. 437 



was not practiced among the Hebrews, 
being introduced only after Palestine 
became Roman territory. It was par- 
ticularly the punishment for slaves 
found guilty of serious crime. At one 
time it was not permitted to inflict this 
punishment upon a Roman citizen as 
too degrading and infamous. 

Roman custom always insisted upon 
scourging to precede the crucifixion. 
The condemned person was forced to 
carry his cross to the place of execu- 
tion. There he was bound to the cross 
with cords, before being fastened with 
four nails to the wood. A placard 
fastened to the top announced the name 
and offense of the sufferer. Horace 
speaks of a place outside Rome where 
criminals were crucified which even- 
tually became a regular forest of 
crosses with the bodies of victims left 
as the prey of voracious birds. (Epod. 
v. 99.) To shorten the period of agony 
the condemned man's legs were some- 
times broken. This was more common 
among the Jews, and the body was 
usually taken down at sunset. The 
punishment of the cross remained 
throughout the Roman Empire until it 
was abolished by Contantine. 

Among the Romans there was no 
symbolic meaning attached to the cross, 
always remaining as it did an instru- 
ment of punishment. St. John Chry- 
sostom tells us the Cross of Christ was 
higher than the others, his crime being 
considered a graver one. St. Matthew 
(xxvii, 37), tells us the inscription was 
placed over His head, stating, "This is 
Jesus, the king of the Jews." 

A microscopic examination of relics 
of the Cross show that it was made 



from a pine tree (Pleury, Paris, 1870). 
An ancient, but doubtful, tradition 
gives the measurements of the Cross as 
nearly sixteen feet long and about eight 
feet wide. 

Symbols of the Cross. 

When the early Christians wanted 
to inscribe a cross upon their monu- 
ments, they found it necessary to use a 
disguise in some form. One of the old- 
est of these symbols is the anchor, 
found in the catacombs. Originally a 
symbol of hope, the anchor here takes 
on higher meaning based on the Cross 
of Christ. The trident is also found in 
the early Christian cemeteries, stand- 
ing erect as the mainmast of a vessel 
entering the harbor, a symbol of the 
Christian soul saved by the Cross of 
Christ. Many other symbols have also 
been found. The mystical dolphin en- 
twined around a trident is a symbol of 
the Crucifixion. 

St. Andrew is said to have suffered 
martyrdom on a cross shaped like the 
Roman numeral X, his hands and feet 
being bound to the four arms. In the 
Latin cross the transverse beam is 
placed two-thirds of the way up the 
vertical. The Greek cross has the cross 
beam half way up the vertical. Both 
Latin and Greek crosses form an im- 
portant part in church decoration. In- 
deed, many churches of today are built 
in the form of the cross. The swastika, 
already spoken of, was used as a sym- 
bol of the cross in the third and fourth 
century. 

The monogrammatic cross consists in 
the addition of a monogram to the 
original form of the cross. One form 
of monogram has the Greek letters 



438 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Alpha and Omega, the first and last 
letters of the Greek alphabet. Its sig- 
nificance is that Christ is the beginning 
and the end of all things. Other mon- 
ograms are in existence. About the 
fifth century the undisguised cross ap- 
pears, the need for other forms having 
apparently passed away. A little later 
the crucifix appears. Christian art 
pictures the cross which in the Heavens 
appeared to Constantine as having this 
original form. In public places the 
cross is to be found. In heraldry and 
in the diplomatic service crosses are 
found on documents. The cross made 
by people who are unable to write evi- 
dently has its origin in this custom. It 
was originally the signature of notaries. 
The fact that the handle of a sword 
is shaped like a cross receives attention, 
unbelievers claiming its use as an invo- 
cation of good luck to which the use 
of the swastika had descended. More 
likely it was a pious practice on the 
part of those to whom the sword meant 
defense of home and country. 

Calvary Relics. 

A French writer locates the relics of 
the cross and crucifixion as follows: 

The "Wood of the Cross — The largest 
portions are in the basilica of the Holy 
Cross of Jerusalem in Rome, and in the 
Cathedral in Paris. 

The Cross Inscription — The tablet on 
which is the well-known inscription, 
I. N. R. I. (Jesus Nazarenus, Rex Juda- 
eorum — Jesus of Nazareth, King of the 
Jews) is preserved in the basilica of 
the Holy Cross of Jerusalem, Rome. 

The Crown of Thorns — This relic 
forms part of the treasure of Notre 



Dame in Paris, but is devoid of thorns, 
which have been distributed among a 
great many churches. This relic, with 
the fragments of the Cross, is borne 
in triumph by twelve canons or cures 
of Paris in the solemn procession which 
is held at 8 o'clock Good Friday night 
in the Cathedral of Notre Dame. 

The Church of St. Sernin, in Tou- 
louse, has a fragment of the crown, 
which was given by St. Louis through 
his brother Alphonse, count of Poitiers 
and Toulouse. 

The Nails — One, history relates, was 
thrown by St. Helena into the Adriatic 
to calm a storm ; the second is in the 
famous iron crown of the ancient Lom- 
bard kings (used by Napoleon I in his 
coronation) ; the third is in the Church 
of Notre Dame, in Paris. At Monza, 
near Milan, is a nail whose authenticity 
Benedict XIV is said to have estab- 
lished. 

The Sponge — This is at Rome, in the 
basilica of St. John Lateran. 

The Lance — The point is at Paris 
and the rest at Rome. 

The Robe — It was given to the 
Church of Treves by St. Helena. (It is 
known as the Holy Coat.) 

The Tunic — Charlemagne gave it to 
the monastery of Argenteuil, near 
Paris, where his sister was a nun. The 
Church of Argenteuil has the relic to 
this day. 

The different pieces of the "Winding 
Sheet — The largest is at Turin. The 
Church of Cadonin, department of 
Dordogne, France, has the cloth in 
which the head was wrapped. 

Rome has the linen with which Vero- 
nica wiped Christ's face. 



SACRAMENTALS, PIOUS PRACTICES. 439 



The upper part of the pillar of the 
scourging is at Rome in the Church of 
St. Praxedes since 1223. The other 
part is at Jerusalem, in the Church of 
the Holy Sepulchre. 
Santa Glaus and Christmas Customs. 

Is there a Santa Claus? Parents are 
confronted with this question annually 
from hundreds of eager little people to 
whom an older generation suggests 
doubt. Many a little one's heart is 
broken by the declaration that no such 
person exists, or ever did exist. At 
times parents feel that they should 
disabuse the hearts of the children al- 
together of an illusion which somehow 
will not down. 

The origin of the Santa Claus story 
is traced back to a distinctly Catholic 
practice in Germany. There it is con- 
nected with another feast, that of St. 
Nicholas, celebrated on December 6th. 
This saint was a great friend of the 
children and it was his custom to dis- 
tribute presents to his little admirers 
on this day. The custom developed into 
the practice, kept up each year in all 
towns, of a man dressed as a bishop, 
accompanied by a servant ringing a 
bell, who would visit the homes and 
there deposit either a present or a 
switch for each child, according as the 
child had been good or naughty. Shoes 
or plates were receptacles for the pres- 
ents, not the stocking as today. Holland 
and England as well as Germany kept 
up this practice for many years. The 
original German is Sankt Klaus, pop- 
ularly associated with the custom. 

This tradition has been distorted in 
America into the transfer of the visit 
of Santa Claus from December 6th to 



Christmas Eve. One writer traces this 
to the Puritans in New England, but 
the fact remains that St. Nicholas cele- 
brations still take place abroad regu- 
larly on December 6th, while here 
Santa Claus, to a more or less degree, 
usurps the place of the Christ-Child. 

Writers deplore the necessity of 
maintaining a myth when there is 
such abundant material for interest- 
ing instruction for the little ones in 
the story of the Infant Jesus, the 
Blessed Virgin Mother and St. 
Joseph. Why should the Crib at Beth- 
lehem fade into secondary importance 
and yield place to the reindeer and 
sleigh of this mythical if kindly dis- 
tributor of gifts? Christmas is essen- 
tially a commemoration of the Incar- 
nation, the anniversary of the Na- 
tivity. To look forward to the com- 
ing of the Christ-Child should be the 
prominent feature in the minds of the 
children. Catholic parents should not 
forget this fact. It is not proper that 
children should be occupied solely 
with selfish ideas of what they expect 
from Santa Claus. There can be no 
real Christmas without the Christ- 
Child occupying the most prominent 

p ace. Christmas Cards. 

The practice of offering gifts to 
friends at Christmas received im- 
petus in England in 1844 with the in- 
troduction of the Christmas card. 
World's Work credits W. W. Dobson, 
R. A., with the idea of sending a 
friend a card painting illustrative of 
the Christmas spirit. The develop- 
ment of the card is far removed from 
the original idea or its possibilities. 



440 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Frivolous, even improper saluta- 
tions find place among the present 
day cards. Catholics should be care- 
ful in selecting only cards which 
properly and fittingly portray the real 
religious feeling of the feast. 

Christmas Tree. 

The use of a tree at Christmas has 
its origin in German customs. In the 
Hartz mountains the people retain an 
ancient superstitious practice in 
dancing around a fir-tree in which the 
Spirit of Christ is supposed to be con- 
fined. On promising gifts of love and 
happiness for the coming year the 
Spirit is to be released. A viking 
legend tells of the "Fair White 
Christ," who was preached to the 
sea-rovers by Ausgarius. The story 
goes that God sent three spirits, 
Faith, Hope and Love, to light the 
first Christmas Tree. They selected 
the balsam as the tree symbolic of 
hope in its majestic height, of love in 
its expansive width, bearing the sign 
of the Cross on every bough, while 
its fragrance was sweet as the spirit 
of Christmas itself. 

Some writers trace the Christmas 



Tree to the ancient "Sun-Tree" of 
the Teutons, with its flashing candle- 
flame, the golden balls hung on its 
branches and the various presents 
likened to the representation of vege- 
table and brute creations which were 
associated with this ancient practice. 

Catholic or Roman Catholic? 

Should we discontinue the use of 
the word "Roman" and call our- 
selves simply "Catholics"? A dis- 
cussion on this point in response to an 
enquiry was recently held in the 
American Ecclesiastical Review. It 
seemed to favor the decision that the 
word "Roman" might be omitted. 
The word "Catholic" seems to des- 
cribe as well as to indicate the Church 
one has in mind, in spite of what any- 
one, the Episcopalians for instance, 
might think about it. By way of ex- 
ception the word "Roman" might be 
added when necessary, but there are 
few who will not understand and 
appreciate our meaning, if simply we 
use the word "Catholic," when speak- 
ing of our grand old Church, which 
alone has the right to be called 
"Catholic" or universal. 



The Devotion to Our Blessed Lady, 
the Virgin Mother of God. 



One of the oldest and falsest 
charges made against the Catholic 
Church by her enemies is that she 
raises a creature to the rank of a 
deity, or in other words that Catho- 
lics adore Mary, the Mother of Jesus. 

This is an absolute untruth — with- 



out any foundation in fact. Every 
Catholic from his early childhood has 
been taught, by his parents and by 
means of the Catechism, to pay the su- 
preme worship of adoration to no one 
except God. And at the same time he 
has been taught to venerate, to love and 



SACRAMENTALS, PIOUS PRACTICES. 441 



honor the Blessed Virgin-Mother of 
God, Mary, chosen to give birth to and 
bring up the Incarnate God, Jesus 
Christ. Catholics love and honor her 
as a being infinitely above all other 
creatures though infinitely below God. 
Catholics ask her to pray to her Son 
for them, because, owing to the love 
which God bears her, His Mother, 
her prayers are sure to be heard. 
There is no misunderstanding the po- 
sition which Holy Church assigns to 
our Lady — and yet the enemies of 
the Church, through ignorance or 
malice, or both, persist in declaring 
us Catholics guilty of " Mariolatry . " 

Mariolatry. 

As has been said above, there is no 
excuse for making any such charge ; 
witness the fact that in the sixth 
century, the Church condemned as 
heretics a sect of men, called the Col- 
lyridians, who worshiped Mary as 
a divinity, and that the Church thus 
emphatically repudiated this very 
thing of Mariolatry. 

Like all the great truths, the Cult 
of Our Blessed Lady dates back to 
the earliest days of Christianity. St. 
Irenaeus in the second century; Sts. 
Gregory, Ambrose, Jerome, in the 
fourth ; Sts. Peter, Chrysologus and 
Augustine in the fifth — all testify to 
the early Church's devotion to Mary 
as expressed in prayers for her help 
in veneration of her images — which 
latter are seen together with images 
of Our Lord, her Son, in the cata- 
combs of Rome. 

And the Church has steadily en- 
couraged the growth of this devotion, 



by means of Indulgences attached to 
pious practices in Mary's honor, by 
means of Congregations formed for 
the service of Mary (such as the 
Men's Sodalities of the Blessed Vir- 
gin and the Children of Mary), and 
by means of articles worn in token 
of consecration to her (such as scapu- 
lars and medals). For Holy Church 
in her wisdom knows that devotiou 
to Mary cannot fail to better any one 
who truly entertains it, is sure to 
make the Christian be nearer and 
dearer to Mary's Son. 

Our Lady's Apparitions on Earth. 

To the fact that, according to the 
belief and teaching of the Church, 
God has made His Mother the Treas- 
urer of Grace, the channel through 
His gifts of love and mercy shall flow 
unto humanity, must be attributed 
the Apparitions of Our Blessed Lady 
upon earth. 

Not a few such apparitions are re- 
corded and proven through indisputa- 
ble evidence. The miraculous shrines 
of Einsiedelm in Switzerland, Mont- 
serrat and Pilar in Spain, for in- 
stance, owe their existence to visits 
of Our Lady, in the Middle Ages. 
Later on, the miraculous sanctuary 
of Guadalupe, near the city of Mex- 
ico, was built at the request of Mary, 
who appeared to a poor Indian. And 
in our own days the miraculous 
shrines of Lourdes and LaSalette in 
France came into being through 
Mary's apparitions to peasant chil- 
dren. 

It is most Holy Mary's great joy to 
help, comfort, and cure stricken hu- 



442 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



manity. Therefore, miracles of mercy, 
wondrous cures of ailing minds and 
bodies, have always taken place at her 
shrines. 

Apparition at Lourdes. 

A little more than three years after 
the solemn definition, as an article 
of faith, of the Dogma of the Immac- 
ulate Conception by our Holy Father, 
Pope Pius the ninth, on the eleventh 
day of February, 1858, the Blessed 
Virgin Mary appeared for the first 
time in the Grotto of Massabielle, 
near the little village of Lourdes, sit- 
uated in the Pyrenian region of 
southern France, to a simple, humble 
and pious child, a peasant girl of 
fourteen, named Bernadette Sou- 
birous. 

Our Lady was clad in luminous 
white. Her white veil fell to her feet, 
on each of which shone a golden rose. 
She wore no crown or jewel of any 
sort. A broad sash-like girdle of sky- 
blue encircled her waist. From her 
hands, joined as in prayer, hung a 
great rosary of milk-white beads 
strung on a chain of gold. 

Smiling on the child, who was say- 
ing her beads, the Queen of Heaven 
asked her to come to the Grotto each 
day for fourteen days. Bernadette 
obeyed, although many obstacles were 
placed in her way by the temporal 
authorities of Lourdes. She looked, 
time and again on the "Beautiful 
Lady," as she called Mary Immac- 
ulate, and Our Lady enjoined her to 
tell the parish priest of Lourdes that 
she wished a church to be built near 
the place where she appeared, so that 



the faithful might come there in pil- 
grimage. As evidence for all the 
world, Our Lady caused a fountain to 
flow from the barren |Tock of the 
Grotto. And she revealed to the little 
girl, who did not understand the 
words until they were explained to 
her by the saintly Father Peyramale. 
the priest of Lourdes, that she was the 
Immaculate Conception. 

In spite of the jibes and persecu- 
tions of the atheistical civic authori- 
ties, the child's story was believed. 
The truth prevailed — fortified as it 
was by the miraculous cures which 
immediately began to take place at 
the Grotto, where men, women ana 
children afflicted with terrible dis- 
eases, some of them at the very point 
of death, were made perfectly sound 
and well through the use of the water 
from Our Lady's fountain. After the 
most thorough-going investigation, the 
Church sustained Bernadette, declar- 
ing that it was indeed the Immaculate 
Mother of God who appeared to the 
child, and authorizing the devotion of 
Our Lady of Lourdes. Two glorious 
sanctuaries were erected in obedience 
to Our Lady's will, and Lourdes has 
attracted for over sixty years, innum- 
erable pilgrims, among whom not a few 
go to ask and often receive the happi- 
ness of health at the feet of Mary. For 
her constant and merciful intention to 
benefit sufferers who trust in her has 
been made manifest at Lourdes since 
1858, by means of hundreds upon hun- 
dreds of miraculous cures. 

Without seeking to pry into the mo- 
tives of Divine Providence, the faithful 



SACRAMENTALS, PIOUS PRACTICES. 443 



Catholic is entitled to believe that 
God's purpose, in having Most Holy 
Mary appear to Bernadette and give 
the world the miraculous fountain, was 
to show His approval of men's loving 
devotion to Mary conceived without sin, 
and to teach us all to come to Him 
through Mary. 

Our Lady of Guadalupe. 

America does not lack the right to 
rejoice in a miraculous visit on the 
part of the Ever Blessed Virgin 
Mother. The spot sanctified by appari- 
tions of Mary Immaculate is called 
Guadalupe, a few miles away from the 
city of Mexico. 

At a time when Guadalupe was but a 
barren mountainous wilderness, on De- 
cember 9, 1531, a pious Catholic Indian 
by the name of Juan Diego was mak- 
ing his way through this wilderness 
for the purpose of attending Mass in 
the city. Juan Diego was a truly Chris- 
tian man and extremely devout to Our 
Blessed Lady. This may in a measure 
account for the appearance before him 
— there in the midst of the lonely 
mountain country — of a beautiful lady, 
one whose beauty was such that he felt 
no doubt whatever when she told him 
that she was the Mother of God, and 
bade him go to Bishop Zumarraga in 
the city and advise the Bishop that 
she wished a church in her honor to be 
built on the very spot her feet were 
then touching. Jiian Diego obeyed Our 
Lady's command. But the Bishop, un- 
convinced, unwilling to act on the word 
of an Indian unknown to him, in- 
structed him to ask a sign, a proof of 



her identity, from the lady who had 
described herself as the Mother of God. 

A few days later, on December 12, 
Juan again went to the city in order to 
fetch a priest for his uncle who was 
sick. Unwilling to meet the lady again 
— because he disliked the idea of asking 
her for a sign, according to the Bis- 
hop's directions, he turned from the 
path he usually traveled. Neverthe- 
less, Our Lady once more appeared. 
She assured him that he need not make 
haste to go for a priest, as — -through 
her intercession — his uncle was even 
now restored to health. And she re- 
peated her desire that on this spot 
should be built a church in her honor, 
where she should be invoked as "Our 
Lady of Guadalupe." Then she sent 
him to some neighboring rocks, telling 
ing him to gather the roses he would 
find there. It was not the season of the 
year when roses bloom in that part of 
Mexico, and Juan had never known 
roses to grow in these barren moun- 
tains, but he did as he was told and 
found a bush covered with beautiful 
red roses. These he gathered and 
placed within the cloak or blanket that 
he wore. "When he had brought them to 
Most Holy Mary, she arranged them 
herself, and folding the cloak over 
them so that it acted as a basket, com- 
manded Juan not to show its contents 
to anyone, but to carry it to the Bishop, 
without delay. 

. The pious Indian's obedience was 
faultless. He presented himself at the 
Bishop's house, and when the prelate 
received him, opened the cloak he car- 
ried, whereupon the beautiful roses 
fell to the floor. To the humble In- 



444 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



dian's great astonishment, the Bishop 
and his attendants were kneeling with 
every appearance of fervent faith. No 
sooner, however, had he glanced at the 
cloak he was holding than he under- 
stood why the Bishop knelt down, for, 
imprinted on the poor blanket-cloak, 
he beheld a life-size picture of the 
Mother of God, done in rarely beauti- 
ful colors. It was Our Lady's "sign" 
given the Bishop and all the world. 

Of course, there was no further room 
for doubt. The church was built and 
is today one of the earth's great sanc- 
tuaries. Our Lady of Guadalupe is the 
patroness of Mexico, and at her shrine 
hundreds and thousands of miracles, 
testifying to Mary's boundless mercy 
and tenderness, have been performed. 

Over the main altar of that great 
church is seen today, as it has been seen 
for several centuries, the miraculous 
picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe. 
The cloak on which a divine agency 
imprinted this picture, the poor In- 
dian's blanket-cloak, consists of two 
pieces of rough, common material 
somewhat like sacking, some seventy 
inches long by eighteen inches wide. 
Artists and chemical experts who have 
examined it, declare the cloak's ma- 
terial utterly unfit for painting, and 
say that the coloring of the picture 
is not due to oil colors, nor to water 
colors, nor to any coloring known to 
man. Also, the nearly five hundred 
years which have passed since Our 
Lady gave back his cloak to Juan 
Diego have not dimmed the mysterious 
colors of the miraculous picture in the 
least. 



Patroness of America. 

A chapter dealing with the devotion 
of Our Blessed Lady would be unsatis- 
factory if it did not remind Catholics 
of the United States that they are not 
only simply but doubly under the pat- 
ronage of God's Ever Blessed Virgin 
Mother. 

In the first place, Most Holy Mary 
is our patroness because her Son, Our 
Lord, made her the mother of all meu 
truly believing in Him, by saying to 
St. John from His Cross: "Behold 
thy Mother ' ' ! and to Mary : ' ' Behold 
Thy Son"! 

And in the second place, she is again 
our patroness because Holy Church, 
in the early part of the last century, 
placed the United States under the spe- 
cial protection of Mary, Conceived 
Without Sin. 

Wherefore it would seem that each 
one of us American Catholics should 
be particularly zealous in the service of 
Mary Immaculate and in the defense 
and spread of her cult. 

Let us add that, because the Catholic 
Church in America is placed under the 
patronage of the Blessed Virgin, under 
the particular title of the Immaculate 
Conception, an attempt is now being 
made to erect a national shrine in 
honor of Our Lady's most beautiful 
title. The plan is to locate it on the 
grounds of the Catholic University at 
Washington, as a great thank-offering 
for countless benefits received by 
Mary's clients in America. It is hoped 
to endow this unique work through the 
donations and the services of Catholic 
women in the United States. 



SACRAMENTALS, PIOUS PRACTICES. 445 



History of the "Hail Mary." 

The "Hail Mary," as we now recite 
it, dates from the year 1515 ; originally 
it consisted only of the salutations of 
the Archangel and St. Elizabeth. Pope 
Gregory, the Great, ordered this primi- 
tive "Hail Mary" to be said at the 
offertory of the Mass on the fourth Sun- 
day in Advent, and there we find it as 
follows: "Ave Maria, gratia plena, 
Dominus tecum ; Benedicta tu in Mu- 
lieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris 
tui,"— "Hail Mary, full of grace, the 
Lord is with thee ; blessed art thou 
amongst women, and blessed is the 
fruit of thy womb." 

In the thirteenth century, according 
to Durandus, it was recited after the 
"Our Father" in beginning the Divine 
office. Pope Urban IV, in 1263, added 
the holy name of Jesus after the scrip- 
tural sentence, as the devotion of the 
faithful introduced the name of Mary 
after the greeting. 

The addition, ' ' Holy Mary, pray for 
us sinners, Amen"! was made in 1508, 
and the Franciscans were accustomed 
to add to the Hail Mary, "hour of our 
death." A few years later, Pius V 
showed his approbation of the prayer, 
as we have it, by allowing its insertion 
in the Roman breviary. 

It was about in this form that St. 
Ildefonsus, bishop of Toledo, knew the 
"Hail Mary" nine hundred years ago. 
Still the Western Church did not ac- 
cept it as a regular prayer until the 
eighth century. From the time of the 
Crusades it became the custom to say 
the "Hail Mary" every morning and 
night at the sound of the church bells. 



Miracles. 

A miracle is a fact apparent to the 
senses, quite evidently surpassing the 
powers of nature. It is, therefore, 
something that God alone can do. It 
proves His intervention in the affairs 
of the world. 

The miracles of Jesus Christ and His 
Apostles form one of the supernatural 
facts which prove the divine origin o£ 
Christianity. Christians saw these 
miracles performed. They believed 
them. So, also, were unbelievers in 
Christ convinced of His Divinity by 
reason of the wonders that He per- 
formed. 

The Church has always claimed an 
unbroken continuity of miracles in 
proof of its Divine origin, and claims 
it yet. The Church continued its can- 
onizations, for which complete and un- 
doubted miracles are an essential con- 
dition; and its missionaries and other 
saintly men and women continued to 
supply them. Non-Catholics must ad- 
mit that God is a direct and constant 
witness to Catholic Truth. To foes and 
rivals of Rome, He gives no sign what- 
ever, yet the Author of all Truth, in 
places such as Lourdes, gives Divine 
sanction to the aims and claims of the 
Catholic Church. Hence unbelievers 
deny that there are real miracles. 

Unbelievers invented the theory, un- 
warranted by Scripture or history, 
that miraculous manifestations ceased 
with the Apostles, or at some period 
thereafter. It is curious and even 
amusing to observe how they try to 
meet and explain away the overwhelm- 
ing evidence for the miracles of St. 



446 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Francis Xavier and others. But this 
can not be done successfully on account 
of the number and character of the 
miracles in the Church, the quantity 
and strength of the testimony and the 
care taken by the Church in proving 
the facts. 

Scientific Attempt at Explanation. 

So-called scientists attempt to ex- 
plain the present-day miracles and at- 
tribute them to the magic of "sugges- 
tion." The more religious minded ex- 
plain miracles through the sufferer 's at- 
titude of "expectancy," in Our Lord's 
day as well as ours, forgetting in their 
haste to eliminate or lessen the super- 
natural, that at least the dead and de- 
mented could not be benefitted by ex- 
pectancy. But in Lourdes this theory 
has broken down. Expectancy was 
never known to cure a broken leg, nor 
a tuberculous limb, nor blindness, nor 
cancer, nor leprosy, nor deaf-mutism, 
nor cerebral paralysis, nor any disease 
that requires a reformation of bone, 
cell, tissue and organs that nature 
takes years to furnish. Least of all, 
can it do so instantly; yet all this has 
happened at Lourdes, and much of it 
within the last few years. The cures 
attested by the Lourdes medical board 
and approved by over 2,000 physicians, 
many of them of international repute, 
exceed 4,000, and the number of real 
cures not submitted to the board is 
reckoned still larger. Of these less than 
one-twentieth were of nervous diseases, 
and from this fraction all cases amena- 
ble to suggestion were excluded. At 
the Lourdes bureau, as in the Church 
processes of canonization, no cures of 



purely nervous diseases are admitted. 
The remainder, classified in 175 sub- 
titles under seventeen general headings, 
include nearly all the organic maladies 
known to humanity. And it must be re- 
membered they are entered as cures in 
the Lourdes records only when some 
eight or ten months after the event, the 
history of the disease and the perma- 
nency of the cure have been verified. 
It is freely admitted that no skeptic 
could be more cautious and insistent 
than Doctors Boissari and Cox and 
their aides in ruling out any cures that 
might be attributed to natural agency. 

Lourdes presents countless and con- 
stantly accumulating facts for which 
suggestions can offer no solution. Even 
Zola, who ascribed an instantaneous 
cure of lupus which he witnsesed to 
auto-suggestion, has so admitted. A 
consumptive whom he saw dying one 
day, and cured the next, he killed off 
on the third, though she actually main- 
tained her health and outlived the ro- 
mancer. But there were cases which 
he, writing for people who knew the 
facts, could not so dispose of. These, 
like the sudden cure of spinal disease 
and organic maladies which sceptical 
doctors had pronounced incurable, he 
ascribes to "Nature's unknown laws." 
It is a specious phrase into which all 
difficulties will fit. 

A Particular Case. 

Bertrin in his book on "Lourdes, a 
History of Its Apparitions and Cures" 
presents a number of individual cases 
which are truly typical. Pierre de 
Rudder, an unfortunate field laborer, 
had broken his leg. His doctor found 



SACRAMENTALS, PIOUS PRACTICES. 447 



the bones fractured, both the tibia and 
fibula bones being broken just below 
the knee. The leg was set, bound up 
and cared for. A few weeks later the 
intense pain caused the sufferer to in- 
sist on having the bandages removed. 
It was found that a gangrenous sore had 
formed at the seat of the fracture, and 
another ulceration showed at the foot. 
The doctor gave months to careful at- 
tendance, even bringing experts from 
a distance. Amputation was declared 
necessary, which the patient refused, 
although bedridden and suffering in- 
tense agony. His dreadful condition 
lasted eight years, until he obtained 
his employer's permission for his pil- 
grimage to Lourdes. 

At this time, a piece of the broken 
bone had been removed, the ends being 
therefore some distance apart and quite 
apparent to the eye since the wound 
was open. The lower part of the leg 
could be twisted in any direction, and 
lifted so as to practically fold the leg 
in half. This is attested by his doctor 
and by witnesses who saw it nine days 
before the pilgrimage. He drank some 
of the water, walked on crutches 
around the grotto until completely ex- 
hausted, knelt down and made humble 
confession of his sins in an act of con- 
trition. Then hardly knowing what he 
was doing, and quite forgetting his 
crutches, he got up without help, and 
knelt down before the statue before he 
realized that he had walked. 

Examination a few minutes later 
showed the swelling gone, the bones re- 
united, firmly fixed together, and no 
difference in the length of his leg as 
compared with the other, in spite of the 



length of bone removed by the surgeon. 
Scars mark the place of the wounds 
and sores. 

These facts are attested by many 
persons, some of them unbelievers and 
freethinkers, and are so reported in 
the "Annales de Lourdes." 

Mr. Bertrin reports many other typi 
cal cases in his work. 

In the face of these astounding facts, 
their number, publicity given them and 
their continuance, unbelievers who re- 
fuse to accept miracles must change 
their attitude They said the medicinal 
properties in the waters of Lourdes 
caused the miracles, but on examina- 
tion it was proved that there were no 
medicinal properties in the water. 
Suggestion will not be accepted as ex- 
planation in anything more than 
nervous diseases, and these are not con- 
sidered among the miracles of Lourdes. 
Aud cures in organic cases are surely 
beyond the reach of "suggestion." 
Critics are forced to take refuge in 
childish talk about ' ' Nature 's unknown 
laws." They never will admit that 
there is a possibility of direct interven- 
tion of God. 

It seems clear that when they say 
nature they should know it is nature's 
Master. When Christ reversed such 
laws in Judea, the critics, who would 
not have Christ nor His teachings, as- 
signed various explanations for His 
miracles, and, these failing, settled on 
Beelzebub. 

But many of these critics, and some 
who took active part in His crucifixion, 
finally yielded to the evidence. It has 
so happened at Lourdes. Thousands 
have been won from heresy and infi- 



448 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



delity by its wonders, and tens of thou- 
sands have been strengthened in the 
Faith. It would seem that, as Heaven 
selected an illiterate peasant girl of 
Domremy to save the national life of 
her people, so it made an illiterate 
peasant of Lourdes instrumental in 
bringing the people of today to a close 
realization of our dependence upon 
Him. 

Liquifaction of the Blood of St. 
Januarius. 

An outstanding example of a miracle 
of today, of frequent and regular oc- 
curence, follows : 

St. Januarius, martyr, is believed to 
have suffered in the persecution of 
Diocletian 305. He was tortured with 
his companions and beheaded. His 
body was brought to Naples and bur- 
ied in the church where his head is 
preserved and his holy blood is kept 
to this day in a phial of glass. Tlte 
contents of this phial, being set near 
his head, become liquid and bubble up 
as though it were fresh. 

The Breviary lessons declare that 
the saint was first thrown into a fiery 
furnace and remained unharmed. 
Afterwards, he was exposed to the 
wild beasts in the amphitheater and 
was unhurt. Ordered to be beheaded, 
his executioner was struck blind. The 
saint healed him, whereupon many 
conversions followed ; afterwards he 
permitted his own decapitation. 

That miracles have followed this 
liquifaction of his blood is beyond 
doubt. This happens in plain sight, 
at frequent intervals and has happened 
for more than four hundred years, 



and there has been no charge of trick 
ery in all that time, since there is no 
ground for it. 

The phial in which the blood is kept 
is about 2% in. in diameter and 4 in. 
high, about half full of a dark solid 
mass, absolutely opaque when held to 
the light, and this solid substance can- 
not be displaced when the phial is 
turned upside down. 

Eighteen times each year on fixed 
days, a bust which contains the head 
of the saint is placed on the altar in 
the Church, and the phial is brought 
out and held there in full view of the 
congregation. Prayers are offered and 
after an interval of varying duration, 
usually about a few minutes, the mass 
detachs itself from the sides of the 
glass, becomes liquid and of a ruby tint 
and in some instances to froth and bub- 
ble, increasing in volume. 

Sceptical scientists have attributed 
various causes for the miracle and have 
experimented to no avail. In many 
cases, conversions followed. Heat is 
not an explanation as proven. Liquifac- 
tion takes place just as readily with 
the thermometer at 60 as at 77 or 
higher. And it is proven to be of greater 
weight at time of liquifaction than 
when opaque. The best scientists for 
hundreds of years have failed in other 
than miraculous explanation. 

Who Are Members of the Church? 

In the March, 1916, Ecclesiastical 
Review, Dr. McGuire is quoted as fol- 
lows : "The question as to who are 
and who are not members of the body 
of Christ looks simple — one searches ' 



THE CHAPEL CAR. 

Interior and Exterior of the Chapel Car, St. Paul, one of the means used by the 
Catholic Church Extension Society for mission work in remote places of America. 



SACRAMENT ALS, PIOUS PRACTICES. 449 



the handbooks in vain for a clear or 
satisfactory answer. 

In my work of teaching an advanced 
class in Christian doctrine for many 
years I have found nothing better on 
the point than the following: 

Who is a member of the Catholic 
Church ? 

Everyone who is baptized and has 
neither voluntarily separated himself, 
nor has been excluded from her. 

"Who have voluntarily separated 
themselves from the Church? 

1. All those who by their own fault 
are heretics, i. e., who profess a doc- 
trine that has been condemned by the 
Church ; or who are infidels, that is, 
who no longer have or profess any 
Christian faith at all. 

2. Those, who by their own fault 
are schismatics, that is, who have re- 
nounced, not the doctrine of the 
Church, but their obedience to her, or 
to her supreme head, the Pope. 

Who are excluded from the Church? 

Excommunicates, that is, those who 
as degenerate members have been ex- 
pelled from the communion of the 
Church. 

Are not those also who are heretics 
without their own fault separated from 
the Church? 

Such as are heretics without their 
own fault, but sincerely search after 
the truth, and in the meantime do the 
will of God to the best of their knowl- 
edge, although they are separated from 
the body, remain, however, united to 
the soul of the Church, and partake of 
her graces. 

Who is a heretic by his own fault? 

A heretic by his own fault is (1) 



he who knows the Catholic Church, and 
is convinced of her truth but does not 
join her; (2) he who could know her, 
if he would candidly search, but 
through indifference and other culpa- 
ble motives neglects to do so. 

Does it become us to judge whether 
this one or that is outside the Church 
by his own fault or not ? 

No; for such judgment belongs to 
God, who alone is the "searcher of 
hearts and reigns" (Psalms vii, 10) 
and "judges the secrets of men" (Ro- 
mans ii, 16). 

To obtain salvation is it sufficient to 
be a member of the Catholic Church ? 

No ; for there are also rotten and 
dead members (Apoc. ii, 1) who by 
their sins bring upon themselves eter- 
nal damnation. 

The Truce of God. 

The Treuga Dei, or Peace of God, 
means in wartime a temporary suspen- 
sion of hostilities, which had its or- 
igin in the eleventh century. In this 
military age, when the world was con- 
tinually under arms, the Church did 
all that she could to bring about peace, 
especially among Christian nations. 
But the necessity of defense against 
threatening barbarians led to practices 
which lent themselves easily to dis- 
putes, squabbles, which soon grew into 
almost continual warfare. Unable to 
check this, the Church adopted what 
became known as the Peace of God and 
the Truce of God, which were accepted 
by all Christian nations. 

The Truce of God prohibited war- 
fare of all kind during the holy sea- 
son of Lent and Advent, and, during 



450 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



the rest of the year, from Saturday 
night to Monday morning. (Council 
of Elne, 1207.) This canon was later 
extended to cover certain days of the 
week consecrated by the great mys- 
teries of the Christian religion, such 
as Thursday, in memory of the Ascen 
sion; Friday, the day of the Passion, 
and Saturday, the day of Resurrec- 
tion This made a truce from Wednes- 
day night to Monday morning. (Coun- 
cil 1041.) The penalty for any infrac- 
tion of this truce was excommunica- 
tion. The original truce and the 
gradual extension of time eventually 
effected what a downright prohibition 
could not do, namely, the freeing of 
Europe from the horrors of internal 
warfare. 

The Peace of God was an institution 
which kept inviolate all persons conse- 
crated to God, under similar penalty 
of excommunication. Clerics, monks, 
virgins and consecrated widows were 
included, with all consecrated places, 
churches, monasteries and cemeteries. 
In earlier days this protection was ex- 
tended to all proteges of the Church — 
the poor, pilgrims and merchants on a 
journey. The Peace of God made the 
Church a sanctuary for all, and an 
asylum for the poor and oppressed. 

The Hero of Molokai. 

Joseph de Veuster, known to the 
world by his name in religion, Father 
Damien, was born of humble parents in 
a small village of Belgium, the great 
little Catholic country that has bred 
so many heroes. Intended for a com- 
mercial life, he renounced his ambition 
to enter the novitiate of the Fathers 



of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary 
at Louvain. He was admitted to the 
religious profession October 7, 1860, 
and three years later, though still in 
minor orders, was sent to the mission 
of the Hawaiian Islands. After his or- 
dination, in the same year, he was 
given charge of various districts on the 
Island of Molokai, and his burning zeal 
found opportunity to give full reign 
to the impulses of his heart. He was 
not only the missionary of the natives, 
but also constructed chapels with his 
own hands. A leper settlement had 
grown up on the island, where the gov- 
ernment kept segregated persons af- 
flicted with the loathsome disease. The 
government supplied the unfortunates 
with food and clothing, but was unable 
in the beginning to provide them with 
either resident physicians or nurses. 
For a long time Father Damien not 
only administered the solace of re- 
ligion, but also rendered the afflicted 
ones what medical service and bodily 
comforts were within his power. He 
dressed their ulcers, helped them to 
erect their cottages, and even dug their 
graves and made their coffins. For 
nearly sixteen years he performed his 
wondrous works of mercy, until he be 
came a victim of the disease and gave 
up his pure soul to God. 

But for the accident which took Rob- 
ert Louis Stevenson to the South Seas, 
the story of Father Damien 's life 
would have reached a much smaller 
circle of readers. Father Damien had 
been grossly slandered by one Reverend 
Dr. Hyde, a Presbyterian minister of 
Honolulu. With characteristic gen- 
erosity, Stevenson, himself a Presby- 



SACRAMENTALS, PIOUS PRACTICES. 451 



terian in so far as he was connected 
with any church, rushed to the priest's 
defense, and the open letter in which 
he attacked the slanderer contains the 
most justly bitter invective the great 
novelist ever penned The heroism of 
Father Damien thus became known 
to the world. 

Father Damien 's life, his work in 
the Hawaiian Islands, his herculean 
labors, his high principles, towering 
supremely above those of the officials 
around him, his firmness of character 
that would never bend to their lower 
standards, his heroic cheerfulness as 
he faced the doom of the terrible sick- 
ness, his noble death — all serve to teil 
us that the ages of faith and martyrs 
have not entirely passed away. 

The Red Cross and Its Origin. 

In war time, there is no feature 
which so attracts the attention and 
sympathy of non-combatants, as the 
work of what is called the Red Cross. 
Under this name, an association of 
charitably disposed people work for 
the care of the wounded and dying, so 
often left unattended by the army they 
served. Originally, this association 
was formed by the women of the fight- 
ing nation, who thus assisted in the 
defense of their country 

It is interesting to recall that the 
Red Cross is of Catholic origin. The 
first record of such service is in the 
reign of Queen Isabella of Spain, to 
whom Columbus owes his success. There 
was fighting in every day in her time, 
fighting with the infidel Moors, who 
gave no quarter. The idea of first 
aid to the wounded thus must be laid 



to the credit of the queen, whose gen- 
erosity made possible the discovery of 
our country. That her tenderness of 
heart was equally evident appears in 
her organization of the court ladies 
into nurse associations, which she her- 
self trained and sent to the front, 
where they were housed in hospital 
field tents. 

As the cross of Isabella, the Catholic, 
flew over those Spanish hospital tents, 
so the same sacred sign continues to be 
the humane emblem in use five cen- 
turies later When the European pow- 
ers determined upon organizing a com- 
mon society to care for the wounded 
soldiers, their representatives met in 
Geneva, Switzerland, 1864, and there 
was formed the first International Red 
Cross Society, taking for a device the 
Swiss flag reversed, a red cross on a 
white ground. This exactly corresponds 
with the first emblem raised over the 
hospital tents by Queen Isabella of 
Spain. 

But previous to 1864 we have the 
story of St. Camillus : 

' ' In 1850 there was published by the 
Congregation of St. Philip Neri in Lon- 
don a life of St. Camillus in two vol- 
umes. In this work we find that on 
March 18, 1586, Pope Sixtus V con- 
firmed the congregation of nurses that 
Camillus had gathered, and on June 
26 of the same year in another brief 
ordered that Camillus and his com- 
panions should wear as a distinguish- 
ing mark of their order a red cross on 
their habits and cloaks. 

St. Camillus established during his 
life sixteen houses of his order in Italy 



452 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



and had lost 220 of his nurses while at- 
tending the numerous plagues and 
wars of that time. Philip IV intro- 
duced the order into Spain. Father 
Andrea Sicli, of Pelermo, traveled to 
Mexico, Peru, Brazil to introduce the 
order into South America. Father 
Perez, of Castile, brought the order to 
Lima. 

Considerateness in Public Worship. 

Every parish forms a family all by 
itself and customs grow up through an 
existence of years as the case may be. 
They have been suggested by conveni- 
ence or by necessity. In every case they 
were meant to eliminate friction and to 
produce public decorum. There are 
just a few suggestions that ought to be 
made. No church is large enough to 
accommodate all or most of the people 
of the average city parish if they per- 
sist in coming to one Mass. The study 
of every pastor is to make the time of 
the Masses as convenient as possible 
for the people, but he always has in 
mind that, say, for instance, ten o'clock 
is not the most convenient time for all 
the people. It would be a delicate 
piece of unselfishness if a determined 
plan would be entered into among fam- 
ilies that, some, at least, should go to 
Mass at six, seven, or nine There are 
those, of course, who must go at ten 
and it is really too bad that they should 
be jostled and packed by those who 
could with very little exercise and less 
sacrifice, go to a Mass not so crowded. 
It is pitifully childish to see people 
hearing Mass in the vestibule and out 
on the steps of the church. The mere 
physical presence without any spirit 



behind it is not enough. Of course, 
something must be done, people say. 
The decency and decorum of public 
worship must be kept. Pew holders 
must tussle to get to their pews, and 
those who have no pews, humiliated by 
being compelled to stand or to be 
shoved aside. It is often no edifying 
spectacle, but short of calling the police 
or the fire department, the remedy is in 
the hands of two or three hundred peo- 
ple who will say, ' ' I will go to an early 
Mass." 

How to Hear Mass. 

Stand when the priest enters the 
sanctuary. Kneel when the priest begins 
prayers at the foot of the altar. Con- 
tinue in this posture until the priest 
moves to the Gospel side. Stand dur- 
ing the reading of the Gospel and dur- 
ing recitation of the Credo, if it be said. 

Sit when the priest turns to the peo- 
ple saying, "Dominus Vobiscum. " 

Rise and stand during recitation of 
the Preface. 

Kneel at ringing of the bell at the 
Sanctus. Continue in this posture with 
more than usual reverence at the Con- 
secration, until after the Communion. 

Sit while the priest recites prayers 
at the Epistle side. 

Kneel for the Blessing. 

Stand for the Last Gospel. 

Kneel for the prayers at the foot of 
the altar. 

Stand until the priest has left the 
sanctuary. 

The Hurry Out Catholic. 

The late Father Matthew Russell. 
S. J., the kindly editor of the Irish 



SACRAMENTALS, PIOUS PRACTICES. 453 



Monthly for forty years, on many oc- 
casions referred to the "hurry out 
Catholic." "How does he spend the 
time that he saves so carefully?" 
Father Russell asked, and he com- 
mented : 

What madness, to hurry over our 
religious duty in order to have more 
time for doing something immensely 
less important than the duty that we 
leave half done, or much less well done 
than we could do it if we gave to it full 
time and our full attention. 

A very active professional man 
broke down in health and came up 
to consult the Dublin physicians. Ho 
and his son attended Mass in one of 
the Dublin churches. At the end of 
the Holy Sacrifice, while the altar was 
being prepared for benediction, several 
persons went away without waiting for 
that beautiful and solemn rite. The 
dying man — for such he really was — 
had to drive to his hotel in a cab, and 
on his way he said to his son: "You 
saw those people — never do that! You 
may want that blessing yet!" 

Some Beautiful Catholic Fashions 
of Speech. 

It is no more than natural that the 
words of greeting or farewell ex- 
changed by men and women meeting or 
parting should bear witness to the 
speakers' faith and abiding religious 
spirit, in those countries which have 
long been essentially and fervently 
Catholic. 

The only word of that kind still daily 
and generally used in modern English 
is a survival from the times when the 
English were a Catholic people — when 



England boasted of being known as 
"Our Lady 's Dowry." That one word 
is "goodbye," a contraction of the 
pious phrase, "God be with you." 

Staunchly Catholic Ireland has re- 
tained several beautiful forms of ad- 
dress which may be heard any day 
throughout St. Patrick's isle- 1 - except, 
indeed, in Protestant, unfriendly 
Ulster, "God save all here," when en- 
tering a neighbor's house, and "God's 
blessing upon you" are two of these 
lovable, warm-hearted expressions of 
true Christian feeling. 

An especially admirable greeting is 
that which prevails, to the exclusion 
of any other sort, among the rural 
natives of the almost wholly Catholic 
parts of Germany and Austria, the 
lands known as Bavaria and Tyrol, 
notably. There, when two men, or 
women, or children, meet, one of them 
will say to the other: "Gelobt sei Jesus 
Christus ! " ( Praised be Jesus Christ ! ) , 
and the other will respond: "Auf 
Ewigkeit, Amen!" (Forever and ever, 
Amen !) 

Throughout the Latin countries of 
Europe — France, Spain, Portugal and 
Italy — countries which, despite the 
lamentable fact that they have been 
' ' bad children ' ' for the last fifty years 
or so, are at heart loving children of 
the Holy Church — the principal word 
of parting is, "Adieu," "Adios," 
"Addio," meaning "I commend you 
to God's care" 

What may well be considered one of 
the most beautiful, most happily Cath- 
olic greetings imaginable, is the custom 
in our neighbor republic of Mexico, 
among the high and the low, the rich 



454 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



plantation owners and the poor peons 
alike A, meeting B, exclaims, "Ave 
Maria!" and B makes answer: "Sin 
pecado eoncebida !' ' — the two exclam- 
mations signifying, ' ' Hail Mary ! ' ' and 
"Conceived without sin," and consti- 
tuting a loving act of belief in our 
Blessed Lady's Immaculate Concep- 
tion. 

Such gloriously Catholic declara- 
tions of faith made by means of greet- 
ings and farewells between friends or 
acquaintances hundreds of times each 
day — in Ireland, Germany, France, 
Spain, Italy and Mexico, cause the 
American Catholics to wish that cus- 
tom in English speaking countries and 
the English language allowed him also 
to be a frequent confessor of the Faith, 
after a similar fashion. However, even 
as things are, he can give his religious 
self no little satisfaction every day by 
using the word goodbye with a thor- 
ough remembrance of its old-time 
meaning of: "God be with you!" 

Offering of Masses. 

1. The more pleasing to God, that is, 
the more holy the offerers of the Mass 
— whether it be the priest, or the peo- 
ple associated with him in the offering 
— the greater is their merit, and the 
more willing is God to hear their pray- 
ers. Hence Pope Alexander affirms 
that "the holier the priest the more 
he benefits the people by his sacri- 
fices." 

But you must bear in mind, as the 
Council of Trent has defined, that the 
sacrifice of the Mass cannot be defiled 
by any unworthiness or malice in the 
offerers," and that the fruit of the 



sacrifice itself is applied irrespective 
of any merits or demerits in the visible 
celebrant. The fruit of the Mass and 
its application depend upon the Chief 
Priest and Offerer, Jesus Christ. 

2. Theologians show that sacrifice 
from its very nature and institution 
possesses what they call a general, a 
special, a mediate, and a most special 
fruit. The general belongs to the 
whole Church; the most special is per- 
sonal to the offerers ; and the special 
is free and applicable ; according to 
the will and intention of the priest. 

Every priest when saying Mass is 
obliged to form a special intention, i. 
e., he is obliged to apply the special 
fruit of the Mass to some definite ob- 
ject. 

To be made the recipient of that spe- 
cial fruit is a great privilege. It means 
remission of temporal punishment due 
to forgiven sins and a fresh bestowal 
of previous gifts and graces drawn 
from the Divine treasury of the Pas- 
sion of our Lord. 

The heretic Wyclif taught that 
special prayers and the special appli- 
cation of Masses were of no more avail 
to a soul than general prayers. The 
Church condemned this error. She has 
always held that special prayers of- 
fered for special purposes are of very 
great avail. 

Special Intentions. 

When the priest offers the mass for 
a special intention we are to believe 
that what he thus does officially is rati- 
fied and accepted by Chief Priest 
(Jesus Christ) whose agent he is, un- 
less He behold something imperfect, 



SACRAMENTALS, PIOUS PRACTICES. 455 



unworthy, or unwise in that special 
intention. 

3. The greatest favor a priest can 
show you, next to offering the sacri- 
fice for you, is to make a memento of 
you in the Mass. It is an honor and a 
great spiritual advantage to be named 
officially in the Holy Mysteries. It is 
like making a special presentation of 
you and of your necessities to our dear 
Lord and to the Adorable Trinity. 

Offering for the Souls. 

4. From the earliest times, under the 
Old and the New Law, sacrifices have 
been offered for particular objects and 
persons. 

They have also always been offered 
for the souls in purgatory. The great- 
est love and mercy we can show 4 o 
souls in purgatory is to pour out upon 
them the merits of the Cross through 
the Mass. The Mass avails the souls 
in purgatory, both as an impetratory 
or supplicatory, and as a propitiatory 
or satisfactory sacrifice. 

Consider what purgatory is. A 
realm of pain created by infinite Jus- 
tice for the punishment of souls. No 
doubt there are degrees of punishment, 
but the least degree of purgatorial 
pain is keener and intenser than all 
the pains of this life put together. St. 
Gregory says, "because I know that 
purging fire to be more intolerable 
than all the sufferings and tribulations 
of this world, I greatly dread being 
purged in the wrath of this ven- 
geance." St. Augustine and many 
other Fathers teach exactly the same 
doctrine. It is also the teaching of the 
school, St. Thomas saying that the fire 



of hell and of purgatory is the same, 
and St. Anselm that the least pain of 
purgatory is keener than anything 
that can be imagined in this life. 

You ought to get as many Masses 
as you can said for your deceased 
friends and benefactors. They not 
only expect this service from you, but 
they will at once repay you by be- 
coming your most grateful friends and 
intercessors with God. 

St. Peter Damian, when a youth, 
came into possession of a little sum of 
money, with which he might have re- 
lieved his hunger and misery; but in- 
stead of spending it on himself, he 
took it to a priest to say Masses for 
the soul of his deceased father. From 
that moment, his life tells us, he ex- 
perienced the gratitude of the soul he 
had aided for he himself was immedi- 
ately released from his unhappy lot 
and finally became a great saint. The 
circumstance is alluded to in his office 
in the breviary. 

5. St. Leonard of Port Maurice 
urges us to get Masses said for our 
soul during life rather than after death, 
for he believes that one Mass applied 
to the soul during life avails more than 
many applied after death. 

Masses For Own Intention. 

This, too, is the Catholic tradition 
among the good Irish people, with 
whom it has become a proverb that 
"One Mass before death is better than 
two after." 

There seems to be much reason in 
this view of the case ; for surely it is 
prudent to wipe out all we can of our 
debt, during life, when it is easy to do 



456 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



so, rather than to delay the Masses till 
we are plunged into purgatory, pay- 
ing in fire the accumulated debt of a 
life-time. Some persons think lightly 
of purgatory ; but souls that have been 
there but a few minutes of time be- 
lieved that they had been there for 
centuries, so extreme and unspeakable 
was the sharpness of the pain they en- 
dured. Better be wise and diminish 
the debt beforehand than adjourn the 
full payment to a place of such tor- 
ment. 

St. Leonard speaks of a rich and 
pious Genoese merchant, who gave peo- 
ple scandal by leaving nothing for 
Masses when he died ; but the scandal 
ceased and they admired his prudence 
when it was found that he had thou- 
sands of Masses offered for his soul 
during life. 

This remark as to the prudence of 
getting Masses said during life applies 
equally to the wisdom of performing 
other good works during life. Make 
sacrifices that are living, pinch your- 
self personally while alive to spread 
the Faith, to establish religious educa- 
tion, to found charitable institutions, 
and otherwise to help the poor. This 
will avail you a hundredfold more than 
trusting to money (which you cannot 
take with you) left in alms for Masses 
and good works after death. 

But Catholics are justly shocked 
when a person with means, having ful- 
filled all natural obligations to others, 
dies without making any, even the least, 
provision for his own soul ; especially 
when it is noted that during life he 
either denied himself nothing unless 



it were to increase his means, or showed 
no great liberality to the poor and to 
religion, and perhaps, even created a 
well founded impression that, when 
from time to time he did give, it was 
always the least he thought he decent- 
ly could give. 

If in our will we leave tokens of love 
and benefits to our friends, it is only 
natural not to forget tn^, wants and 
charitable institutions of the Church — 
the Church which has been our Mother 
and our Guide to salvation. 

It is remarked, however, that they 
who show scant gratitude to God dur- 
ing life for the means He has placed in 
their hands, hoarding their resources 
as though entirely their own and not 
His, usually bequeath little or nothing 
to religion when they die. Such as 
these, though they may die in God's 
grace, have no reason to expect a re- 
lease from their terrible purgatory till 
they have paid in their own person 
even the last farthing, "for judgment 
without mercy to him that hath not 
done mercy" (James ii, 13) is the sen- 
tence of the Holy Ghost, and the truth 
of the Lord remaineth for ever. 

On Having Masses Offered. 

6. You may now perhaps ask : What 
are you to do when you desire to have 
a Mass applied according to your in- 
tention ? 

You must ask a priest to offer the 
Mass for you. Of course, he is not 
obliged, and indeed he may not be able 
to do so. But you need have no deli- 
cacy in asking him, because this rela- 
tion between the priest and the people 
is regulated by the Canon law, whi^h. 



SACRAMENTALS, PIOUS PRACTICES. 457 



supposes that an honorarium, tax, sti- 
pend or alms, as it is variously called, 
should be given on the occasion. 

The Holy Scriptures lay down the 
principle that they who serve the altar 
shall live by the altar, and that they 
who minister to the people spiritual 
blessings shall receive, as St. Augustine 
puts it, "their support from the peo- 
ple and their reward from the Lord." 
Whenever, therefore, you ask that the 
sacrifice be offered up especially and 
exclusively for your own intention, it 
is right' that you should practically 
recognize this principle. If the priest 
accepts the honorarium, it is a pledge 
to you that the Mass will be offered 
exclusively for your intention ; for he 
is then bound by justice and under 
pain of sin so to offer it. — Adapted 
from "The Holy Sacrifice of the 
Mass." 

The Ceremonies of Mass. 

There is no more serious obligation 
placed upon us than that which tells 
us to hear Mass on Sundays and 
holy days. The Church has impressed 
the importance of this precept upon 
us so strongly that in this way, if in 
no other, we can understand how high- 
ly we should esteem the Holy Sacri- 
fice. The reasons for impressing this 
fact upon us are many — none greater 
than the fact that the Mass is a repeti- 
tion of the Sacrifice on Calvary. Since 
this is so, then, we who receive the 
benefit of this sacrifice, should be pres- 
ent, and learn to appreciate as far as 
we can the extent and depth of our 
Savior's love for us. But it is not 
this feature of Sunday worship that we 



wish to consider. We know what the 
Mass is from our catechism, we under- 
stand it according to our lights even if 
we are not sufficiently appreciative. 
It is more to the point to consider our 
attitude while present at Mass. We 
attend, for various reasons. We do not 
consider those who miss Mass for every 
trifling excuse. But being there, what 
does the Mass mean for us? How do 
we conduct ourselves during Mass? Is 
our attitude one of simply putting in 
time, bored by the entire service, eager 
for its end? You can tell if a person 
lacks the proper spirit by the degree 
of speed he uses in getting out of the 
church. The first one on the street 
is seldom the one who has received 
benefit from the Mass he has just heard. 
We show too much eagerness in leav- 
ing and too little care in arriving on 
time. We leave with our prayer un- 
finished; we do not genuflect before 
the altar; we do not take Holy Water 
at the door — all these things, little 
things as they are, are suggestive of 
the thoughtlessness, carelessness in our 
devotion — carelessness at that one brief 
time in all the week when some of us 
say prayer at all. This is a state of 
things which might form a meditation 
for us. 

Meaning of Ceremonies. 

It has been suggested as a remedy 
for distractions and inattention during 
Mass that we should endeavor to learn 
the meaning of the things we see about 
us ; and by a better understanding of 
the ceremonies of the Church we might 
be helped to a greater degree of de- 
votion. First of all what is the mean- 



458 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



ing of the word "Mass." For it has a 
meaning; everything about the church 
has a meaning, and there is no reason 
why we should not understand it. 
Every movement of the Priest during 
Mass is studied, the result of much pre- 
paration, and it means something for 
us to learn to know. The word "Mass" 
means a sending forth — an offering of 
prayer and sacrifice to God ; the priest 
represents Jesus Christ; the altar is 
the cross upon which our Savior died; 
the vestments signify the garments, 
white and purple, with which Herod 
and the Jews clothed our Divine Lord 
in scorn and ridicule ; the chalice 
means the sepulchre in which Jesus 
was buried; the paten, the stone that 
closed it. The altar cloth and corporal 
signify the linens in which our Savior 
was laid; the Host is the Body of 
Christ ; the mixture of wine and water 
signifies the blood and water that 
flowed from our Lord's side. 

Sanctuary and Choir. 

If is a High Mass the deacon and 
subdeacon represent the apostles and 
disciples. The incense signifies the 
prayer of the people rising to Heaven. 
The choir represents the Holy Fathers, 



the patriarchs and prophets, who have 
never ceased from the time of creation 
to sing the praises of God. In every 
altar there is a stone consecrated by the 
Bishop, without which Mass could not 
be said. There, too, are the relics of 
some saint, usually the saint to whose 
guardianship the church is dedicated. 
The centre of the altar is where the 
atone and the relics are placed just in 
front of the tabernacle where the 
Blessed Sacrament is kept. A light is 
always burning in the sanctuary lamp 
as long as the Blessed Sacrament is 
present in the church, signifying the 
light of Divine faith which is still burn- 
ing in the hearts of the faithful. The 
side of the altar to which the priest 
first turns represents the giving of 
God's favor to the Jews. When he 
goes to the left, the Gospel side, it 
signifies the passing of Christ's teach- 
ing to the Gentiles, and the Gospel, 
which contains the mysteries of our 
faith, is always read from this side. 
Later when the main part of the Mass 
is over, the priest returns to the other 
corner of the altar, to signify, that at 
the end of the world, the Jews shall 
be converted and receive the faith of 
Christ. 



Bibliography. 

Pius X, Decree on Frequent Communion; Sacramentals, 
Lambing; The Holy Hour, Graham; Purgatory, Donnelly: Holy 
Water, Lang; House and Table of God, Roche; Writings by Father 
Hull, S. J., in Bombay Examiner, by L. E. Dobree in Ecclesiastical 
Review, August 16; Sermon bv Father Bernard Vaughan at Euchar- 
istic Congress, Montreal; What Shall I Be, Cassilly; Courtship 
and Marriage, America Press, N. Y. 



CHAPTER XX. 



Popular Devotions Among the 
Faithful. 

Novenas— How to Make Them — Some Popular Novenas— Patron Saints — St. 
Rita — St. Anthony — The Nine Tuesdays — St. Anne — Shrine at St. Anne de Beaupre, 
Quebec — St. Teresa, The Little Flower — Litanies — Other Practices — Portiuncula — 
Croagh Patrick Pilgrimages — Patron Saints of Workers — Our Lady's Day and 
Month — Practical Application of Religion to Life — Persecutions and Martyrs — 
Stories of Our Lady's Feasts. 



In perfect harmony with the spirit 
declared by its title of "Catholic" 
(which means "universal," as you 
know), the Church offers her children 
their choice of a great number of de- 
votions or pious practices, by means of 
which the Catholic keeps himself in 
touch with God — through prayer and 
meditation on the Divine as manifested 
in the story of the Redemption, in 
the glories and graces of the Redeem- 
er's Mother, and in the God-loving 
lives of the Saints 

Novenas. 

Among such devotions, Novenas hold 
high rank. 

Using the words of the Very Rev. 
Dean A. A. Lings, in his preface to 
his book called "Our Favorite Nove- 
nas!" 

"By a novena is meant a devotion 
of nine days in honor of some mystery 



of our redemption to obtain a particu- 
lar request from Our Lord through 
the merits of His Sacred Heart, life 
and Passion, or in honor of the Blessed 
Virgin or any of the Saints, that by 
their intercession they may obtain for 
us favors from Almighty God." 

A novena, therefore, is a nine days' 
prayer, a pious exercise divided into 
nine parts, of which one part is per- 
formed every day. Any of the prayers 
approved by the Church may be used 
for the purpose. For instance, five 
decades of the Rosary, or the Litanies 
of the Holy Name of Jesus and of the 
Blessed Virgin, or one decade of the 
Rosary and a quarter of an hour's 
spiritual reading — either of these will 
constitute a good novena, if performed 
with the novena intention during nine 
consecutive days. However, there are 
special novena forms, and many of 
them, both for use at any time of the 



460 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



year and for use on the occasions of 
particular feasts. And these forms 
are to be had in books and pamphlets — 
the book from which the above quo- 
tation is taken being one of the best 
of its kind. 

Some Popular Novenas. 

The following novenas may be 
named as some of the most popular: 

Novena in honor of the Holy Name 
of Jesus (Indulgence of 300 days once 
a day). 

Novena for Christmas, (Indulgence 
of 300 days, once a day, and a plenary 
indulgence on any one day of the No- 
vena, Christmas day, or any day of its 
octave — the Plenary indulgence on the 
usual conditions). 

Novena for the feast of the Sacred 
Heart (Indulgence of 300 days every 
day and a Plenary Indulgence on the 
day immediately after the novena or 
in its octave). See Nine Fridays, 
Blessed Margaret Mary in chapter 10. 

Novena to the Holy Ghost, for the 
Feast of Pentecost (Indulgence of 
seven years and seven quarantines for 
each day of the novena, and a Ple- 
nary Indulgence any one day on the 
usual conditions). 

Novena in honor of the Blessed Sac- 
rament (Plenary Indulgence on the 
Feast of Corpus Christi). 

Novena in honor of the Most Holy 
Trinity, to be made at any time (In- 
dulgence of seven years each day, and 
a Plenary Indulgence at the close of 
the novena). 

Novena for the Feast of the Im- 
maculate Conception, beginning Nov. 
29 and ending Dec. 7th (Indulgence 



of 300 days each day and a Plenary 
Indulgence on the Feast-day or any 
day of its octave). 

Novena for the Feast of Our Lady's 
Nativity, beginning Aug. 30th and end- 
ing Sept 7th (Indulgence of 300 days 
each day of its octave). 

Novena for the Feast of the Annun- 
ciation, beginning March 16th and end- 
ing March 24th, (Indulgence of 300 
days each day and a Plenary Indul- 
gence on the Feast-day or any day of 
its octave). 

Novena for the Feast of Our Lady's 
Purification, beginning Jan. 24th and 
ending Feb. 1st. (Indulgence of 300 
days each day and a Plenary Indul- 
gence on the Feast-day or any day of 
its octave). 

Novena for the Feast of Our Lady's 
Assumption, beginning Aug. 6th and 
ending Aug 14th. (Indulgence of 300 
days each day and a Plenary Indul- 
gence on the Feast-day or any day of 
its octave.) 

Novena for the Feast of Our Lady's 
Presentation, beginning Nov. 12th and 
ending Nov 20th. (Indulgence of 300 
days each day and a Plenary Indul- 
gence on any day of the novena or on 
any day during the eight days follow- 
ing the Novena). 

Novena to Our Lady of Sorrows, 
beginning nine days before the third 
Sunday in September. (Indulgence of 
300 days each day and a Plenary In- 
dulgence on any one day during the 
Novena). 

Novena to the Holy Guardian An- 
gels, to be made at any time, and 
particularly during the nine days pre- 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 461 



ceding the Feast, Oct 2nd. (Plenary- 
Indulgence on the usual conditions). 

No vena to St. Michael the Archangel, 
beginning Sept. 20th and ending Sept. 
28th. (Indulgence of 300 days each 
day and a Plenary Indulgence on any 
one day of the Novena). 

Novena to Our Patron Saint, to be 
made at any time and particularly 
during the nine days preceding that 
Saint's feast-day. 

Novena to St. Joseph, beginning 
March 10th and ending March 18th. 
(Indulgence of 300 days each day and 
a Plenary Indulgence on any one day 
during the Novena or on the feast'? 
octave). 

Novena to St. Anne, Mother of the 
Blessed Virgin, beginning July 17th, 
ending July 25th. (Indulgence of 300 
days each day). 

Novena to Sts. Peter and Paul, be- 
ginning June 20th and ending June 
28th. (Indulgence of 100 days each 
day). 

Novena in honor of St. Anthony, 
closing with the feast-day, June 13th 
or, at any time, in the form of nine 
consecutive Tuesdays. 

Novena to St. Vincent de Paul, 
beginning July 10th and ending July 
18th. (Indulgence of 300 days each 
day and a Plenary Indulgence on any 
one day of the Novena or of the feast's 
octave) . 

Novena to St. Patrick, beginning 
March 8th and ending March 16th. 

Novena for the Holy Souls in Pur- 
gatory, beginning Oct. 24th and end- 
ing Nov. 1st. (Indulgence of 300 days 
each day). 

Novena in honor of St. Rita, closing 



with the Feast of the Roses, May 22nd, 
or again on November 2nd. 

Patron Saints. 

Be it said, in connection with the 
Novenas here enumerated, that St. 
Joseph, the foster-father of Our Lord, 
is the patron of the Universal Church ; 
that St. Michael is the Patron of Ger- 
many, even as St. Patrick is the Patron 
of Ireland ; that St. Anthony (of 
Padua) is the saint to whom suppli- 
cants turn for the recovery of things 
lost (see story of his life) ; that St. 
Vincent de Paul is the great apostle of 
Charity to whom the Congregations of 
the Lazarist Fathers and of the Sisters 
of Charity owe their most beneficent 
existence. 

St. Rita, Saint of the Impossible. 

As to St. Rita, known as "the Saint 
of the Impossible," the following is a 
brief sketch of her life and Of her 
claims to a place among God's saints. 

Born about the year 1381 near Cas- 
cia, (in the central part of Italy) of 
humble, pious parents named Mancini, 
Rita, at the age of twelve, desired to 
enter the religious life as a nun of the 
Order of St. Augustine. But her par- 
ents, despite their piety, opposed her 
wish and finally prevailed on her to 
marry a young man of their village — 
whom, in the course of her married 
life of eighteen years, she converted by 
her holy example into a gentle and re- 
ligious man from the impetuous braw- 
ler he had been. After the death of her 
husband and their two sons, Rita re- 
solved to carry out her early desire 
and applied to the Augustinian Nuns 



462 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



of Caseia for admission to their con- 
vent as a sister. 

But it was contrary to the custom 
of these nuns to receive widows into 
their community. So Rita's petition 
was refused several times. She, how- 
ever, did not lose courage, but put 
her cause in the hands of her patron 
saints, St. John the Baptist, St. Augus- 
tine and St. Nicholas of Tolentino. 
And they heard her prayers and an- 
swered them by miraculously leading 
her to the convent where she had twice 
been refused. This time she was, of 
course, accepted, since the nuns could 
not fail to acknowledge the convincing 
power of the miracle. As a religious, 
Rita practiced to a wonderful degree, 
the virtues of obedience, charity, and 
poverty. Her holiness was such that 
God rewarded it even here on earth 
by means of miracles and by deigning 
to appear to her, together with His 
Immaculate Mother. After having 
been a nun for forty-four years, she 
died on May 22nd, 1457, at the age of 
76 years. No sooner was she dead than 
God caused miracles to take place, 
even at her deathbed — two paralytics 
being cured as they approached her 
remains. And thereafter, persons suf- 
fering from incurable diseases, blind 
men, deaf-mutes, and men mortally 
wounded, were instantly cured through 
her intercession. It is because of these 
almost incredible cures that St. Rita 
(who was canonized by Pope Leo XIII 
in 1900) is called "The Saint of the 
Impossible and of Desperate Cases." 

Saint Anthony of Padua. 

Saint Anthony was born on August 



15, 1195, in Lisbon, Portugal. His 
parents were of noble birth, intensely 
religious and particularly zealous Li 
the care lavished upon his early 
training and education. Always a 
model in his behavior, at an early age 
he was attracted towards the religious 
life, and at fifteen he entered a monas- 
tery of St. Augustine. Later he asked 
for and obtained removal to a monas- 
tery where for eight years he practiced 
strict retirement from the world. His 
entry into the Franciscan order and 
his ordination followed in due course. 
He became Chaplain of the Monastery 
of Montepaolo where his intellectual 
gifts soon became known to his breth- 
ren. His sermons were wonderful. It 
seemed that superhuman power lent 
weight and influence to his words. He 
induced thousands to amendment and 
penance, particularly among infidels. 
Conversions was a favorite work and 
he wrought many miracles in his efforts 
to convince his hearers. His preaching 
to the fishes is but one of many. And 
his labors were extreme, displaying 
complete self-sacrifice and effacement. 

He died in the Monastery of Areella 
near Padua on the 13th of June, 1231, 
not having completed his 36th year. 

Devotion of the Nine Tuesdays. 

It was on the first Tuesday after the 
death of this great servant of God that 
his sacred remains were taken from 
Areella to Paclua in triumphal pro- 
cession. On this day the number of 
miracles performed was so great as for- 
ever to mark the day in the hearts of 
the faithful. The blind, the deaf, the 
dumb, the lame, all were cured. No 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 463 



one invoked the aid of this Saint with- 
out obtaining relief on this occasion. 

Since that time, Tuesday has been 
especially sanctified by the people of 
Padua in their custom of paying par- 
ticular honor to their Patron Saint. 
Their piety has been emulated every- 
where. In Franciscan churches espe- 
cial devotions are held. St. Anthony 
confirms the selection of this particular 
day in the response to the numberless 
requests laid at his feet. In March 
1763, Pope Clement XIII granted for 
all Tuesdays within the year which may 
be kept successively and with or with- 
out a Novena, each time a Plenary In- 
dulgence for those who, during the 
Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, 
visit a church of the Franciscan Order, 
receive worthily the Sacraments of 
Penance and Holy Eucharist and pray 
for the intentions of the Holy Father. 
This privilege was extended by Pope 
Leo XIII in 1894 to all churches of that 
order which venerates St. Francis as 
its founder. 

The origin of the nine Tuesdays lies 
in the apparition of St. Anthony to a 
noble lady of Bologna who in 1617 
appealed to the Saint in affliction. She 
was told to "visit the church of the 
Friars Minor for nine consecutive 
Tuesdays, receive the Sacraments, ' ' and 
her prayers before the picture of the 
Saint would be heard. The lady obeyed, 
full of zeal and confidence, and her 
prayer was answered. Further prayer 
fulfilled the utmost of her expectations 
in a most miraculous manner. 

Pope Benedict XIV has granted a 
Plenary Indulgence to all who perform 
this devotion immediately before the 



feast, that is on the nine Tuesdays be- 
fore the 13th of June, with the usual 
conditions, reception of the Sacra- 
ments, visiting the church of the 
Franciscan Order and hearing Mass. 
Special prayers for each of the days of 
the Novena will be found in prayer- 
books and many other prayers and in- 
vocations to the Saint, the wonder- 
worker of Padua, can be had in worxs 
illustrative of the devotion. « 

St. Anne, Mother of the Blessed 
Virgin. 

But little is known of the mother of 
the Blessed Virgin. Joachim and Anne 
were the parents of the mother of 
Jesus, as the Gospel narrative tells us, 
and we are also told of the exemplary 
character, piety and devotion of the 
good Saint Anne — this being indeed a 
matter of course when we consider the 
close connection existing between the 
Blessed Virgin and St. Anne. It seems 
clear that St. Joachim died soon after 
the Presentation of Mary in the temple, 
but practically little else is established, 
except that St. Anne was childless un- 
til the prayers of this worthy couple 
were answered by God in the gift of 
Mary. The feast of St. Anne is cele- 
brated on July 26th and is a day of 
great devotion to thousands of the 
faithful in different places. Relics of 
St. Anne are kept in various churches 
placed under her patronage. Her re- 
lics are on record as having been pub- 
licly exhibited in 710. Tradition has 
it that the body of St. Anne was 
brought to Apt in southern France by 
St. Lazarus. Here, relics were found 
in the time of Charlemagne. St. Anne 



464 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



is venerated at Notre Dame D'Auray 
in France by means of a miraculous 
picture. She is the patroness of wo- 
men in labor, and the patron Saint of 
the province of Brittany in France, 
and of the province of Quebec, in 
Canada. 

Saint Anne de Beaupre. 
Shrine in Quebec. 

The » early settlers from France 
brought to Canada the devotion to 
Saint Anne, and in Beaupre records 
point to 1650 as the beginning, a chapel 
being built in 1658 by Father Vignal. 
On the very day the work started, 
Louis Guimont was cxired miraculously. 
For two centuries and a half, countless 
favors and graces were showered upon 
those whose faith prompted them to 
implore her help. The thousands who 
visited the shrine made possible the 
erection of a new church in 1876. It 
is 200 feet long by 100 feet wide, with 
side chapels. It has been served by the 
Eedemptorist Fathers since 1878. Leo 
XIII raised the church to the rank of 
a minor basilica in 1887, and it was 
solemnly consecrated by Cardinal 
Taschereau, Archbishop of Quebec, in 
1889. Huge pyramids of crutches, 
walking-sticks, bandages, and other 
appliances left behind by the cripples, 
the lame and the sick, bear silent testi- 
mony to the numbers of those who, 
having prayed to St. Anne for help at 
her shrine, have gone home healed. 
Each year, particularly at the time of 
the feast, largely attended pilgrimages 
are arranged in Ontario and elsewhere, 
by means of which thousands of people 
are enabled to visit the shrine of one 



so evidently honored by Almighty God. 
In 1905, 168,000 people visited the 
shrine in official pilgrimages. 

The first relic was exposed in Beau- 
pre in 1670, obtained through Msgr. 
Laval, first Bishop of Quebec. Three 
others have since been added. In 1892 
Cardinal Taschereau obtained the latest 
addition. In 1922 the beautiful build- 
ing was completely destroyed by fire. 
A temporary structure cared for pil- 
grims pending erection of another ap- 
propriate building. 

"Annales de la bonne Sainte Anne 
de Beaupre." 

' ' Catholic Encyclopedia. ' ' 

St. Teresa. 

So full of religious zeal was St. 
Teresa as a little girl of seven, that she 
ran from her home at Avila in Spain, 
in the hope of being martyred by the 
Moors. 

Later, she became a Carmelite nun, 
and in her thirty-first year had de- 
veloped into a model of piety. All for 
God and all in God, all thought, feel- 
ing, speech and action — that was the 
motto of her life. 

She was then called to take charge of 
her order and succeeded in re-estab- 
lishing it on the best possible founda- 
tion. Also, she was favored with many 
visions and revelations of Our Lord. 

Her writings are among the chief 
treasurers of Holy Church. They ex- 
hibit the Saint in a character eminently 
right according to God's intent, but 
nevertheless rare by making it abund- 
antly clear that she joined the deepest, 
most fervent, most self-denying mystie- 



ST PATRICK'S CATHEDRAL 
New York. 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 465 



ism with the soundest kind of common- 
sense. 

St. Teresa died in 1582. 

Other Pious Practices. 

While it is exceedingly salutary to 
the soul, exceedingly helpful in gaining 
the friendship of God, the practice of 
making Novenas is only one of a num- 
ber of devotional practices provided for 
her children's welfare by the Church. 

And of that number, the practices 
mentioned below may be recommended 
as especially rich in spiritual profit 
and in indulgences (all of which are 
applicable to the souls in Purgatory). 

Litany of the Sacred Heart of Jesus 
(Indulgence of 300 days for each reci- 
tation). 

Litany of the Most Holy Name of 
Jesus (Indulgence of 300 days for 
each recitation). 

The Holy Name (Indulgence of 25 
days for each devout invocation). 

The Sign of the Cross with the words 
"In the Name of the Father, and of the 
Son and of the Holy Ghost" (Indul- 
gence of fifty days each time). 

The Angelus or the Regina Coeli 
(Indulgence of 300 days each day and 
a Plenary Indulgence once a month 
when the prayer is sa ; d morning, noon 
and night every day of the month). 

Acts of Faith, Hope and Charity 
(Indulgence of seven years and seven 
quarantines each time, and a Plenary 
Indulgence once in the month when 
this devotion is performed each day 
of the month). 

Morning and Evening Devotion to 
the Blessed Virgin — the "Hail Holy 
Queen" with vcrsicles in the morning 



and the "We Fly to Thy Patronage" 
with versicles in the evening (A 
Plenary Indulgence on any two Sun- 
days in the month when these pray- 
ers are recited daily, and a Plenary In- 
dulgence on all the Feasts of the 
Blessed Virgin and the Feast of All 
Saints.) 

Chaplet of the Immaculate Concep- 
tion (Indulgence of 300 days each time 
it is recited and a Plenary Indulgence 
when it is recited each day of the 
month, once a month). 

Forty Hours' Devotion (a Plenary 
Indulgence). 

Month of March, devotions in honor 
of St. Joseph (a Plenary Indulgence). 

Month of May, devotions in honor of 
the Blessed Virgin (a Plenary Indul- 
gence). 

Recitation of the Rosary in Octoher 
(Indulgence of seven years each day; 
a Plenary Indulgence on the Feast day 
of the Rosary, Rosary Sunday, and a 
Plenary Indulgence for five decades of 
the Rosary said on each of ten days 
during the month). 

Seven Sundays in honor of the Im- 
maculate Conception (Indulgence of 
seven years for each Sunday and a 
Plenary Indulgence on the last Sunday 
of seven consecutive Sundays). 

Nine Fridays in honor of the Sacred 
Heart of Jesus (a Plenary Indulgence 
on the first Friday of every month and 
seven years on the other Fridays). 

Any number of indulgences, partial 
and plenary, and also applicable to the 
Holy Souls in Purgatory, may be 
gained through membership in pious 
societies, or confraternities, such as the 
Holy Name Society, the Society of St. 



466 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Vincent de Paul, the League of the 
Sacred Heart, the Confraternity of the 
Rosary, the Archconfraternity of the 
Holy Heart of Mary, the Children of 
Mary, etc., etc. ; another quantity of 
plenary and partial indulgences, again 
applicable to the Holy Souls, are ob- 
tainable by those who wear the Scapu- 
lar. The Scapulars of Mi. Carmel and 
of the Immaculate Conception, being 
particularly well endowed — the Agnes 
Dei or the Miraculous Medal. 

None of these indulgences can be 
gained, however, unless the petitioner 
therefor is in a state of grace, free from 
mortal sin. Also the petitioner in the 
case of all plenary indulgences must 
have complied with the usual condi- 
tions, to-wit : must have confessed, 
communicated and prayed for the 
Pope's intentions. And indulgenced 
prayers must be pronounced, that is to 
say, must be spoken with the lips 
(though not necessarily aloud), in- 
stead of being said in the mind only 
or read with the eyes alone. 

The Indulgence of the Portiuncula. 

The second day of August annually 
reminds the faithful and zealous soul 
of the great St. Francis, who was not 
only similar to Our Lord and Redeemer 
for being born in a stable, practicing 
extreme poverty, and being favored 
with the sacred five wounds, but also 
by feeling deep compassion for the 
poor sinners. St. Francis endeavored 
to bring his fellowmen to repentance 
by speaking to their hearts, and he 
prayed to God for their conversion. 
He wept so much over the sufferings of 
Our Lord and the indifference and 



carelessness of the world, that he nearly 
lost his sight. Our Lord, seeing the 
glowing heart of His servant, lament- 
ing the offenses offered to his God, was 
much pleased, hearing the suppliant 
prayers of his ardent intercession. 

At one time, when St. Francis was 
again fervently praying for the conver- 
sion of sinners, an angel urged him to 
go quickly into his beloved chapel, 
called Portiuncula. He hastened there 
and saw the most wonderful spectacle. 
Our dear Lord appeared over the tab- 
ernacle, His face beaming with infinite 
kindness and His most glorious Mother 
Mary at His side, and both surrounded 
by a host of bright angels. St. Francis 
prostrated himself in deep adoration 
and sweet ecstasy. But Jesus bade him 
rise and ask a favor for his poor sin- 
ners. And St. Francis said : Merciful 
Lord, grant to all the sinners coming 
into this chapel and praying with a 
contrite heart a full forgiveness of 
all their sins and the punishment 
thereof." When Jesus seemed to hesi- 
tate, saying : ' ' This is something very 
great, what thou askest, " St. Francis 
turned with touching simplicity to 
Mary, the refuge of sinners, to plead 
with Him for the poor sinners. There- 
upon Jesus granted the extraordinary 
Indulgence of Portiuncula. 

For two hundred years this Indul- 
gence was confined to that little chapel 
of the Portiuncula, which was each 
second of August the scene of a won- 
drous gathering of penitents. After 
this the Pope was moved to extend it to 
all the Franciscan churches of th« 
world. 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 467 



Succeeding Popes have still further 
extended it to churches where mem- 
bers of the Third Order meet, and even 
to other churches where no Francis- 
can church is available. The obligation 
of receiving Holy Communion, either 
on that day, August 2nd, or on the 
day before, is- required for all the 
churches outside of Assisi, however. 

Confession and Communion and a 
visit to the church so privileged are all 
that is necessary to the gaining of the 
Indulgence of the Portiuncula. 

One may not gain it oftener than 
v once for himself, but he can gain it as 
many as a hundred times for the souls 
in Purgatory if he can go in and pray 
and come out so often. There is no set 
form or duration of prayer. Five Our 
Fathers, and Hail Marys, and Glorias 
in union with the Sovereign Pontiff's 
prayers are recommended, but any 
form of prayer may be followed. 

Irish Pilgrimages. 

Croagh Patrick is a mountain on the 
seashore of the County Mayo, called the 
"Sinai" of Ireland. It was known to 
the pagans of old as ' ' Cruachan Aigh, ' ' 
and is 2,510 feet high. Its prominence 
has to do with traditions concerning the 
life of St. Patrick. Careworn and fa- 
tigued one day the saint came to this 
remote part of the country and on the 
Saturday before Ash Wednesday in 
the year 441, he went into retirement 
on the mountain top. He spent the 
season of Lent there, in fasting and 
prayer for the perpetuation of the 
Faith in Ireland. The "Book of 
Armagh" mentions that God sum- 
moned all the Saints of Erin past, pres- 



ent and future to appear before St. 
Patrick with visions of the harvest of 
souls his work would produce. The 
"Tripartite Life" tells of the saint 
sending messengers to Rome from his 
habitation on Croagh Patrick in 
441, who returned later bearing sacred 
relics from the Holy Father for the 
altars, the saint was everywhere erect- 
ing. The "Annals of Clonmacnoise" 
and the ' ' Annals of Ulster ' ' report that 
from Croagh Patrick the first tribute of 
Ireland was sent to the Pope at Rome. 
From this holy spot St. Patrick blessed 
the people of Ireland. 

Pilgrimages to Croagh Patrick have 
been of common occurrence. They are 
reported previous to the eleventh cen- 
tury and since that time. In 1432 this 
annual pilgrimage was honored and 
recognized in Rome by Pope Eugene 
IV. It is said that the apostle himself 
celebrated Mass on the mountain, and 
from that time there has been a chapel 
on the summit. In penal days it was 
demolished, yet pilgrims did not cease 
to go there. In 1905 the chapel was re- 
built. The day of the annual pilgrim- 
age is set for the last Sunday in July. 
Newspaper reports of recent pilgrim- 
ages shows that as many as twenty 
thousand pilgrims have been present at 
the Mass of Supplication. About 
twenty Masses are celebrated on that 
day within the little chapel. 

The account of St Patrick is, as the 
Catholic Encyclopedia puts it, taken 
from sources which post-date the 
saint's death by three or four hundred 
years. "There are, however, good rea- 
sons to believe that the traditions they 
embody are genuine." 



468 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Patron Saints of Workers. 

Every walk of life finds a model, a 
patron among the saints of God. No 
trade, no profession is there that has 
not been sanctified and uplifted by its 
life of a Christian hero whom the 
Church has raised up to her altars as 
intercessors. In the ages of Faith men 
looked to these patrons for help in 
their work. Following are some of the 
saints whom professional men and ar- 
tisans regarded as their patrons : 

Architects — St. Pucisius, martyr, 
superintendent of the buildings of 
King Sapor : April 21. 

Bakers — St. Elizabeth of Hungary, 
who gave all her income to the poor : 
November 19. 

Bookbinders — St. Peter Celestine, 
who covered his books with leather: 
May 19. 

Builders — St. Vincent Ferrer: April 
5, restored to life three persons who 
had fallen from heights. 

Butchers — St. Aurelianus: May 8; 
was originally a heathen, and killed 
animals for sacrifice. 

Carpenters — St. Joseph: March 19. 

Comedians — St. Vitus. 

Dyers — St. Lydia. 

Farmers — St. George : Signifying 
"tiller of the soil," April 23. 

Fishermen — St. Andrew. 

Florists and gardeners — St. Doro- 
thy : February 6. 

Hatters — St. Severus of Ravenna, 
who was a hatter before his election to 
the Bishopric of Ravenna : February 1. 

Hunters — St. Hubert, passionately 
fond of hunting. He became fervent 



in religion and eventually a bishop : 
November 3. 

Jewelers — St. Eligius, who displayed 
great skill in the working of gold : De- 
cember 1. 

Journalists — St. Francis de Sales: 
January 29. 

Lawyers — St. Ives, who studied in 
Paris, and pleaded the causes of poor 
people and widows. 

Merchants — St. Francis of Assisi, 
who before his conversion, was a noted 
merchant : October 4. 

Messengers — St. Gabriel, "bearer of 
gladtidings : " March 18. 

Millers — St. Victor, who was con- 
demned to death because he refused 
to offer sacrifice to idols and was 
thrown across a mill wheel which re- 
fused to turn : July 21. 

Music — St. Cecilia : November 22. 

Notaries — St. Mark: April 25. 

Painters — St. Luke, who has given us 
in his Gospel the best picture of Our 
Lady : October 18. 

Philosophers — St. Catherine. 

Physicians — Saints Cosmas and Da- 
mian, who studied medicine in Syria, 
and attended the poor free of charge : 
September 27. 

Plasterers — St. Bartholomew, the 
apostle: August 24. 

Poets — King David, composer of the 
Psalms. 

Porters — St. Peter Gonzales, con- 
verted many sailors to Christianity: 
April 15. 

Servants— St. Martha: July 29. 

Sculptors — St. Claudius, who suf- 
fered martyrdom for refusing to make 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 469 



a statue to be used as an idol : Novem- 
ber 8. 

Shoemakers — St. Crispin. 

Silversmiths — St. Andronicus of An- 
tioch, who always distributed two- 
thirds of his earnings among the des- 
titute. 

Soldiers — St. Ignatius, who, after 
being wounded in battle, decided to 
fight the spiritual battle: July 31. 

Stonemasons — St. Stephen. 

Tailors — St. Homobonus, who, being 
rich, gave all he had to the poor, earn- 
ing his living as a tailor: Septem- 
ber 12. 

Tanners — St. Blaise, of Sebaste, who, 
for his faith, was flayed alive : Febru- 
ary 3. 

Teachers — St. Gregory the Great, 
who, in spite of pain and in- 
creasing weakness, taught unceasingly : 
March 12. 

Watchmen — St. Peter of Alcantara: 
October 19. 

Weavers — St. Anatasia. 



Our Lady's Day and Month. 

A month of each year and a day of 
each week are consecrated by Holy 
Church to Our Blessed Lady. Even as 
the month of May is Month of Mary, 
Saturday is Mary's Day. 

It follows that Catholics who are 
devout to the Virgin-Mother of God 
should endeavor to honor Our Lady 
especially on Saturdays and during 
May by means of pious practices — 
prayers, acts of self-denial, hearing 
Mass, or almsgiving. 

That this devotion of dedicating Sat- 
urdays to the Mother of God was known 
and in use before the eleventh century 
is evidenced by the writings of St. 
Peter Damian who lived in the eleventh 
century, and by the acts of Pope Urban 
II, who was St. Peter's contemporary. 

A Scottish writer of the fourteenth 
century, Pordun, testifies that Satur- 
day in the days of our fathers was 
held in great veneration in honor of 
the Blessed Virgin. 



Practical Application of Religion 

to Life 



It is not too much to say that the 
Catholic religion is the only form of 
Christianity which deserves to be 
called truly and continuously practi- 
cal. 

Unlike the Protestant sects with their 
Sunday-only worships, Catholicity — 
by means of daily Mass and daily Com- 
munion — offers each child of the 
Church the opportunity not only of 
coming very close to God in His House 



and at His Altar, but also of receiving 
Him every day of every week, wher- 
ever the religion is firmly established. 

In other words, the true Church of 
God on earth is like her Divine Head 
in Heaven — since, even as God Himself 
never wearies of His labors of mercy 
and goodness, His Church takes no rest 
from her task of fitting men's souls for 
His approval. 



470 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



The Church Works Seven Days a 
Week. 

To be practical, a religion must be 
practiced. And to be practical, a re- 
ligion must not remain satisfied with 
providing facilities for practice. It 
must do more; it must make practice 
imperative, if it would accomplish real 
and valuable results. 

Thus, the Catholic knows from child- 
hood up that the laws of the Church 
pronounce it a mortal sin to miss 
Mass on any Sunday, except when or 
where his presence at Mass is rendered 
impossible by reason of sickness, too 
great distance from a church or an- 
other "circumstance beyond his con- 
trol." In consequence, the Catholic 
hears Mass every Sunday. For a little 
while, as a youngster, he (or she) may 
obey the Church 's law by hearing Mass 
not so much for love of God and the 
Divine Sacrifice than because of the 
parental authorities' insistence on at- 
tendance at Mass or for fear of com- 
mitting a mortal sin. But soon, very 
soon, the duty becomes a practice so 
dear and so natural that the Catholic 
deeply regrets the necessity of missing 
Mass, owing to sickness or other 
grave cause, any one Sunday and then 
feels that he is being deprived of a 
gladdening and glorious privilege. 

Such is the power of practice. And, 
as there is a great deal of truth in the 
old saying that "practice makes per- 
fect," let it be understood that the 
practice of hearing Mass every Sunday 
does not fail to bring about further 
religious activity on the part of the 
Catholic's spirit. For instance, the 



spiritual joy which the Catholic experi- 
ences through his participation in the 
Masses of obligation — on Sundays and 
the six principal Holy Days of the 
year — will naturally cause him to wish 
for more of that wonderfully exalting 
happiness, which means that he will 
adopt the practice of hearing Masses 
on week-days, occasions not of obliga- 
tion, or even every day, and that he 
will become a frequent communicant. 

Influence of the Mass. 

Now, it is an unquestionable fact 
that no human being can possibly love 
the good God well enough to adore Him 
in His great Sacrifice of the Mass and 
to receive Him regularly, almost con- 
tinually indeed, without growing bet- 
ter, stronger, more worthy in every 
way. And it is also an unquestionable 
fact that the Catholic Church, through 
her daily Masses and through the Sac- 
rament of Sacraments, the Holy 
Eucharist, is the only Church which al- 
lows, invites, encourages, and demands 
unremitting practice and, therefore, 
unremitting betterment. Protestant 
churches do not allow, invite or en- 
courage unremitting practice — for the 
simple reason that their temples are 
closed six days out of the seven, that 
they offer God no public service what- 
ever six days out of the seven, and that 
they have neither the Supreme Sacri- 
fice of the Mass nor the Lord 's Presence 
in the Eucharist within them. Neither 
do they demand unremitting practice. 
For, while a Catholic who habitually 
misses Mass is considered a very bad 
Catholic, a member of a Protestant con- 
gregation may be in "perfectly good 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 471 



standing," according to the Protestant 
scheme, and yet go to church only 
every fourth or fifth Sunday, if he 
chooses. It follows that unremitting 
practice of religion is out of the ques- 
tion — except, perhaps, in rare indi- 
vidual cases — throughout the domains 
of the hundreds upon hundreds of 
Protestant denominations. And it 
equally follows that the Protestant 
does not achieve in his religion the con- 
stant bettering which is not merely 
probable but unavoidable in the case of 
the Catholic who unremittingly prac- 
tices his faith. This is, of course, not 
intended to mean that a Protestant can- 
not be a good man. It is intended to 
mean that he cannot find in his religion 
that daily and mighty help toward 
goodness which Holy Church furnishes 
to every Catholic, the help of the Mass 
and the Eucharist, the help of ever- 
present opportunity for unremitting 
practice. 

Confession. 

In close connection with frequent at- 
tendance at Mass and frequent Com- 
munion, the Sacrament of Confession 
is of exceedingly great value as an 
agent making for clean, straight, truly 
Christian living on the part of the 
Catholic. It ranks next to Communion 
both in the way of supernatural 
strengthening of the soul and in that 
of practical efficiency. Indeed, Con- 
fession must precede Communion, 
where the Catholic who would receive 
his God is conscious of having com- 
mitted a mortal sin, and should precede 
Communion when he has committed a 
sin or sins which, though not mortal, 



are significant enough to remain in his 
memory. 

Among the things, that cause the 
thoughtful person to wonder how they 
can possibly exist and continue to exist 
are to be numbered the Protestant ob- 
jections to Confession. Each one of 
those objections seems too absurd, too 
ridiculous for serious discussion. And 
yet they are all brought up again and 
again by the enemies of the Catholic 
Church, although their absolute false- 
ness and stupidity — beside being self- 
evident — stand exposed by means of 
every Catholic Catechism, prayer- 
book, and manual of preparation for 
Confession and Communion in the 
world. To dwell on them but lightly, 
their substance is that Confession 
means a license to sin ; in so far as, ac- 
cording to them, the Catholic may com- 
mit any kind or all kinds of sin till he 
is tired of sinning and then go to Con- 
fession and be forgiven in full, and 
then commit more sins and confess 
again and be forgiven in full again and 
so on and so on, and be perfectly safe, 
sure of salvation if he just goes to the 
Confession from time to time. This, say 
the non-Catholics who condemn Con- 
fession, is grossly immoral. And it cer- 
tainly would be grossly immoral, gross- 
ly criminal, if it were a fact. But it 
isn't a fact. It is entirely and inex- 
cusably false. 

Every Catholic knows, cannot fail to 
know, that to make a good, real con- 
fession which will result in absolution, 
in the forgiveness of his sins by God 
Himself through God 's priest, he must : 

1. Be thoroughly and deeply sorry, 



472 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



sorry with all his heart and soul for 
every sin he has ever committed 
and especially for those sins he is about 
to confess ; 

2. Be earnestly and sincerely re- 
solved to sin no more ; 

3. Reveal to the priest who hears his 
confession every sin he has committed 
since his last visit to the confessional, 
every single sin he remembers, without 
attempting to excuse his guilt or to 
reduce the extent of it — in short, tell 
the whole truth and nothing but the 
truth, regarding his own wrong doing 
(and his own wrong doing only). 

And every Catholic also knows that 
unless his heart and soul have thus 
prepared him for confession, unless he 
is thus truly contrite, truly resolved to 
lead a good life, and unless he has con- 
fessed every grave sin — without re- 
serve, without mental or verbal condi- 
tion, qualification, or quibble, the ab- 
solution pronounced by the priest will 
not be valid at all; because, while he 
may deceive the priest, who is only a 
mortal and can be deceived, he cannot 
deceive God, and God will not forgive 
him. 

Wherefore, a bad confession is a hor- 
rible sacrilege, an insult offered God 
Himself, and puts the soul of the one 
who is guilty of it into a state of fearful 
danger. 

From this — which is the truth con- 
cerning confession — it undoubtedly ap- 
pears that the practice of confession 
is bound to result in any amount of 
practical good right along. The prac- 
tical good is the same whether the Cath- 
olic who confesses be actuated by the 



highest motive, i. e., the love of God 
which bids him keep his soul clean 
through gratitude to Him who gave it, 
or by the fear of God's judgment, the 
dread of eternal punishment. In 
either case, Confession is sure to make 
and keep practicant better than he 
could be without it. Another side of 
Confession's effectiveness in the accom- 
plishment of practical good is seen 
when we remember that many wrongs 
have actually been righted, as far as 
possible, by means of the Confessional 
— such wrongs as thefts or embezzle- 
ment, for instance, where the priest 
who heard the culprit's confession 
made absolution conditional on resti- 
tution of the property stolen, or else 
on compensation therefor. The United 
States "Conscience Fund" has repeat- 
edly been swelled in this manner. 

The Church for Workers. 

Before we leave the subject of Holy 
Mass and its practical value, be it re- 
membered in brief that the Catholic 
Church — true to Her name, which 
means universal, all-embracing — min- 
isters to the spiritual needs of all of 
her children, including every class and 
kind of them, by celebrating, on Sun- 
diiys and week-days, what is known as 
"The Early Mass" at an hour that 
makes it possible for day-laboring folk 
(domestic servants, among others) to 
assist at the Divine Sacrifice and re- 
ceive Holy Communion without en- 
croaching on their time of labor. 

What with the opportunity and en- 
couragement given the Catholic to hear 
Mass and to communicate frequently 
(the late saintly Pope Pius X having 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 473 



been especially active in his advocacy 
of frequent Communion) and what 
with Confession, there is no denying 
that the Catholic Religion works every 
bit of seven days each week, as was 
pointed out in the beginning of this 
chapter. But, even though the fre- 
quentation of Holy Mass and the Sac- 
raments of Confession and Communion 
is the most important part of Catholic 
practice and is the principal help to- 
ward truly Christian living, tendered 
the Catholic by his religion, yet the 
Church holds out to her children a 
number of other, if lesser, ways of re- 
membering and serving God continu- 
ously, day in and day out. Some of 
these ways are Indulgences, the Sac- 
ramentals, and the Feast-days. 

Indulgences. 

An Indulgence means the remission 
of the temporal punishment still due 
a soul after its sins have been forgiven. 
It may be gained by the believer 
through his performance of various 
good works and his heartfelt recital 
of certain prayers. And, it may al- 
most always be applied to the Souls in 
Purgatory, shortening their time of 
detention there and hastening their 
rise to Heaven and eternal happiness. 
Naturally, the Catholic wishes to do 
all he can for the souls of his loved 
ones who are of "the faithful de- 
parted," so he is willing and eager to 
perform good works and pray with all 
his heart for the purpose of gaining 
Indulgences in their behalf. This, in 
itself, develops in his soul the virtues 
of unselfishness and charity, and there- 
fore seems extremely and worthily 



practical. But Indulgences have still 
another excellently practical merit, 
owing to the fact that, as Holy Church 
most clearly teaches, no indulgence 
can be gained by any one who is not 
in a state of grace, that is, in a state 
of freedom from mortal sin and of 
loving trust in God. For this reason, 
Indulgences must and do necessarily 
act as a powerful inducement to truly 
Christian living, must and do affect 
a great deal of good ; since every Cath- 
olic, who is a Catholic, desires to help 
souls in Purgatory and since he cannot 
help them without being himself at 
peace with God, without being himself 
a decent honest man. 

Sacramentals. 

As to Sacramentals — and more par- 
ticularly, holy images, crucifixes, 
crosses, medals, scapulars, etc. — they 
are also constantly valuable from a 
practical viewpoint. No Catholic has 
any excuse whatever for believing — 
as Protestants unjustly allege he be- 
lieves — that a statue of our Lord or 
of our Lady, a crucifix, a medal of 
Mary, or a scapular possesses virtue 
or miraculous power of its own. He 
does not pray to a crucifix or a statue ; 
he prays to the Savior or to the 
Savior's Mother whom the crucifix or 
the statue represents. Nor does he 
wear a cross, a medal or a scapular, 
because he thinks that such a pious 
object will protect him against danger, 
misfortune, or death. No, he wears the 
cross or medal or scapular by way of 
consecrating himself to God and His 
Blessed Mother and of reminding him- 
self that he is Theirs and consequently 



474 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



must live as their true, loving servant. 
Each time he sees the cross, medal or 
scapular he wears, each time he looks 
upon the crucifix in his room, he is re- 
minded that he is a Christian, that 
Christ died for him, and that it is his 
bounden duty to thank his Incarnate 
God in thought, feeling and deed. And 
each time his eyes meet the image — 
statue or picture — of Mary Immacu- 
late which beautifies his dwelling place, 
his thought cannot but turn to purity, 
humility, tenderness, all the blessed 
virtues which crown Her who is the 
Virgin-Mother of God. Can any man 
keep from being made better, from 
being benefited, by such reminders 
and such thoughts? Most surely not. 
And that is why the Sacramentals, too, 
have real and lasting practical value. 

Feasts. 

Finally the celebration by Holy 
Church of the many feast-days — not 
merely the greatest Holy Days, like 
Christmas, the Ascension, The As- 
sumption or the Immaculate Concep- 
tion but also days commemorating 
heroes of the faith, apostles, martyrs, 
confessors and virgins — causes the 
Catholic year to be splendidly rich in 
glorious examples of what the true 
Faith will do for individual, sinful 
man if only he will cling to it and try 
to live up to God's grace. And there 
is no teaching so convincing, so in- 
structive, so practical as is teaching by 
example. 

Much more could be said on the sub- 
ject. But the little that has been said 
should suffice amply to prove the 
original proposition : 



That the Catholic Religion is the 
only form of Christianity which de- 
serves to be called truly and continu- 
ously practical, and that the Catholic 
Church works every bit of seven days 
each week. 

Saluting Jesus. 

It is an edifying custom in our 
cities for men and youths of the Cath- 
olic Church to raise their hats when 
passing a church. Many a mortorman or 
conductor on the passing surface car, 
a driver of horses, a passer-by on the 
street, or a passenger in the car, 
touches his hat as he goes past the 
Church. These young men are not 
afraid of being criticised, nor of being 
called "pious" in scorn, for there is 
good muscle back of their piety which 
suggests vigorous Christianity put in- 
to action if any objectionable remarks 
were overheard. 

But the average person minds his 
own business and keeps his mouth 
shut among strangers. Either he re- 
spects the act in silence, or he over- 
looks it. How pleased with this sa- 
lute must be the silent Prisoner in 
the Tabernacle of the altar! 

"Good Night." 

There is a tender sweetness about 
some of our common phrases of affec- 
tionate greeting, simple and unobtru- 
sive as they are. Good night! The 
little one lisps it, as, gowned in white, 
with shining face, her prayers said, she 
toddles off to bed. Sisters and broth- 
ers exchange the wish; parents and 
children, friend and friend. Fa- 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 475 



miliarity has robbed it of its signifi- 
cance to some of us ; we repeat it auto- 
matically without much thought. But 
consider. "We are as voyagers, put- 
ting off from time to time upon an 
unexplored sea. Our barques of life 
set sail and go onward into the dark- 
ness, and we, asleep on our pillows, 
take no care as we do when awake 
and journeying by daylight. 

Of the perils of night, whatever 
they may be, we take no heed. An 
unsleeping vigilance watches over us ; 
it is the sleeping vigilance of one 
stronger and wiser than we, who is 
the Eternal Good. Good and God 
spring from the same root, have the 
same meaning. "Goodbye" is only 
"God be with you." "Good night" 
is really "God night," or "God guard 
the night." It would be a churlish 
household in which these gentle forms 
of speech were ignored or did not ex- 
ist. Alike, the happy and the sor- 
rowful day by day, may say: "Good 
night." 

The Last-Minute Catholic. 

The man who waits until the last 
minute to make his peace with God 
usually waits too long. "When the 
last minute comes his enfeebled mind 
and will are generally too far gone to 
conceive or carry out a thought of con- 
trition. "As a man lives, so does he 
die." Nevertheless, there are excep- 
tions. God in His mercy does occas- 
ionally grant to a dying sinner time 
to repent. 

In view of his attempt to repair the 
past, the wish of the last-minute Cath- 



olic sometimes is fulfilled. He is bur- 
ied with the rites of the Catholic 
Church, which he has so long scandal- 
ized, but back to which, as to a 
mother, God's grace had led him be- 
fore he died. 

Prayers for Priests. 

Catholics are asked occasionally to 
think in prayer of our priests ? From 
them we receive the sacrament of 
baptism ; through them God speaks to 
us the healing and cleansing words of 
absolution ; from their hands we re- 
ceive the Bread of Life ; their lips in- 
terpret to us the words of life. In 
hours of sorrow and illness our priests 
come to us ; they visit the pest house 
and the prison ; contagious diseases do 
not frighten them from us ; they risk 
their lives for our lives ; they stand 
at our death beds to prepare us to 
meet our Eternal Judge. Day by day 
they offer for us the tremendous sac- 
rifice of the Mass ; they are anointed, 
and are set apart from other men in 
order that they may seek souls and 
save souls for the honor and glory of 
Almighty God and to help satiate the 
burning thirst of the Great High 
Priest, Jesus Christ, for men's salva- 
tion. 

Yfhat shall we do to show our grati- 
tude to the many untiring priests who 
have given themselves to this holy 
work, and whom St. Ambrose dares to 
call "other Christs?" One thing we 
can all do, and that is pray for them 
— a gift which they ardently desire, 
and for which they ask at every avail- 
able opportunity. Let us not forget 
to do this whenever it is possible. 



476 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Funeral Offerings and Customs. 

The movement for the discontinu- 
ance at funerals of much of the pres- 
entation of flowers and wreaths, whic^ 
are useless alike to the living and the 
dead, and the substitution therefor of 
spiritual offerings, is becoming wide- 
spread. Several Catholic societies 
have passed resolutions to that effect, 
and printing firms have issued memo- 
rial cards through which friends may 
notify the bereaved family of the 
Masses or other spiritual offerings 
they make for the deceased. It is a 
practical expression of Catholic con- 
dolence. The funeral announcements 
have also, as a rule, an unmistakably 
Catholic character. They usually state 
or imply that there have been ren- 
dered, or are about to be rendered, to 
the deceased those Catholic services 
that will relieve their souls of purga- 
torial pains and hasten their everlast- 
ing bliss. 

It is not unusual in certain places 
to see many such memorial cards 
placed upon the coffin when friends 
call to extend their condolence to the 
bereaved family. 

A Spiritual Bouquet. 

The card, a folder which may be 
had at any Catholic book store, is 
very neat and attractive and essen- 
tially religious, a truly sympathetic 
Catholic remembrance. 

There are funeral expenses other 
than for flowers which have their ori- 
gin in human vanity and worldly cus- 
tom, and are equally unprofitable to 
the mourners and the mourned. A 
long line of carriages will not speed 



the departed soul from Purgatory, 
nor will a costly casket facilitate the 
body's resurrection; but both may en- 
tail on straitened families the addi- 
tional grief of having contracted debts 
which they find difficult to meet. A long 
line of Rosaries would be more effec- 
tive, and one Mass is of more worth 
than the costliest of caskets. Poor 
and rich, according to their means, 
will better serve the souls of their 
dead and better solace their own 
hearts by following the truly Catholic 
practice of offering prayers and 
Masses for the repose of the souls of 
departed friends and relatives. 

Fair Weather Catholics. 

Catholics whose faith and piety are 
in evidence only at moments of great 
peril, whether real or fancied, may be 
aptly termed, as "America" puts it, 
"Thunderstorm Christians." As long 
as no danger threatens, they are care- 
less Catholics, who are not afraid to 
live in mortal sin, or perhaps scarcely 
practice their religion at all. They 
refuse or begrudge their Creator and 
Lord the short half hour or so of wor- 
ship He requires of them each week. 
The Friday's abstinence they find an 
insupportable burden ; all church dues 
they consider an imposition; prayer 
they regard as wasted time; Confes- 
sion a nuisance to be deferred as long 
as possible, and Holy Communion a 
luxury they can well forego. Life, 
they say, would be quite enjoyable if 
it were not for the demands their re- 
legion makes on them. 

But let these people be threatened 
with some disaster, then how prompt- 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 



477 



ly their faith and fervor are awak- 
ened. A terrific storm, for example, 
comes up. The lightning flashes, the 
thunder rolls, and the wind roars. Be- 
hold! Without delay blessed candles 
are burning, holy water is freely used, 
and prayers for safety are lavishly 
offered. Soon, however, the tempest 
is over, the sun returns, and with it is 
restored the Thunderstorm Christian's 
serenity of soul and his noble "moder- 
ation" in the use of religious observ- 
ances. Or suppose a domestic bereave- 
ment is impending or some pecuniary 
loss is imminent. Our Thunderstorm 
Christian becomes of a sudden very 
devout. He is constant in prayer and 
profuse in his promises of amendment, 
till a marvelous recovery, or an unex- 
pected windfall, relieves him of all 
anxiety, and straightway he is a care- 
less Catholic once more. 

Now it is not, of course, with the 
Thunderstorm Christian's practice of 
praying and resolving in times of peril 
and anxiety that we find fault. 
Nothing is more natural or fitting 
than that in imminent danger or sore 
distress a man should have recourse 
to God for help. But it is the Thun- 
derstorm Christian's habit of being 
devout and penitent only at such 
times that is reprehensible. 

Sacraments in the Home. 

Frequently when the priest is ad- 
ministering the Sacraments in the 
home there are interruptions coming 
from other parts of the house. All 
members of the family should be pres- 
ent in the room with the sick person, 
uniting in the prayers and displaying 



the proper attitude of devotion. There 
should be no talking or gathering in 
other rooms and no display or em- 
barrassment on these occasions. 

Incidentally, it is well to remember 
that the priest, carrying the Blessed 
Sacrament, cannot extend to you his 
customary greeting, either in the 
home, or should you meet him in the 
street ; and also that the good Catholic 
expecting the Blessed Sacrament 
should have the lighted candle pre- 
pared and ready at the door. 

"S. A. G." 

Many people are accustomed to 
write these initials on their letters, 
"S. A. Gh," standing for "Saint An- 
thony, Guide," or "Guard." The 
object is to place the letter under the 
care of Saint Anthony, to the end that 
it may arrive safely at its destination. 
The custom is a pious one and in no 
way reprehensible. No matter how 
pious we may be and no matter how 
firmly we may believe in the ability 
of Saint Anthony to watch over our 
correspondence, we should not omit 
that ordinary safeguard of important 
mail matter — registration. 

E. de M. 

Another beautiful Catholic custom 
exists in some parts of this country, 
originating in France, which is of en- 
couraging young people, especially 
girls, to sign themselves as Children of 
Mary, "Enfant de Marie," in cor- 
respondence. It is similar to wearing 
the badge of a society of which the 
Blessed Virgin is patroness. E. cle M. 
is signed after the name of the writer 



478 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



as a title of which the possesser is 
proud and fittingly so. There is no 
greater distinction than that of enroll- 
ment in such company. 

Ecclesiastical Titles 

Father Hull, S. J., gives these sug- 
gestions in regard to modes of ad- 
dressing clergymen, in the Bombay 
Examiner : 

Vicars General used to be addressed 
"Very Reverend," but by a recent 
decree they have the title "Right Rev- 
erend," which, however, has not come 
universally in vogue. In general it is 
safe to use "Very Reverend" for any 
ecclesiastic holding a special dignity 
above the ordinary rank and file of 
the clergy. 

The addition of D. D., or the prefix 
"Doctor" or "Dr." to the names of 
Archbishops or Bishops is not neces- 
sary, as "Dr." does not of itself indi- 
cate any sacred dignity or office, but 
is merely an honorary title acquired 
ipso facto by the elevation to the pre- 
lature. Thus "Bishop Meurin" would 
be better form than the familiar "Dr. 
Meurin." 

For priests the proper and sufficient 
usage is "The Reverend," "Reverend 
Father," or "Reverend and Dear 
Father," or even (for a stranger) 
"Reverend Sir." It is bad taste to 
write "Very Reverend" except where 
the title really exists. All overload- 
ing and superfluity of titles is a vul- 
garism highly prevalent in this coun- 
try. 

The Title "Father." 

The title "Father" is one which has 
been in common use in the Church al- 
most since its earliest days. Applied 



to those in charge of religious com- 
munities its use is easily understood, 
as the word implies spiritual relation- 
ship in the superior so addressed. The 
time of further extension is not clear. 

When applied to secular priests the 
same mystical meaning at once is made 
evident, because of the position held 
toward their people by priests. One 
authority has it that the word 
"Father" applied to secular priests 
was introduced into England by Card- 
inal Manning. Others assert that it 
was used before the Cardinal's con- 
version. "Father" Rowland, written 
of by Dr. Pise in 1829, is cited. 
"Father" Prout of Watergrass Hill, 
Ireland, was widely known as early as 
1834. And Cardinal Newman used the 
title frequently in his correspondence 
(see Ward's Life). The best evidence 
of the use of the term is to be found in 
the "Confiteor," when the penitent 
addresses the confessor as his spiritual 
father in a prayer as old as religion 
itself. 

Blessing of Newly Ordained Priests 

There is no special indulgence at- 
tached to the blessing of the newly or- 
dained priest apart from that granted 
to those who attend the first Mass and 
the ordination service. In the case 
of the latter Pope Leo XIII granted a 
Plenary Indulgence to the priest him- 
self and to all relatives (to the third 
degree of consanguinity included) 
who attend the solemn function of the 
first Mass ; also, a Partial Indulgence 
of seven years and seven quarantines 
to all the faithful attending in like 
manner. The usual conditions of Con- 
fession, Holy Communion, and prayer 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 479 



according to the intention of the Sov- 
ereign Pontiff, are required in all 
cases. Pope Sixtus V had granted 
similar indulgences to religious. — Ec- 
cles. Review. Raccolta, S. C. Ind. 1886. 
The Magnificat. 

In days long ago, in the "ages of 
faith," there stood in a wooded valley 
an old gray monastery, says a writer 
in The Casket. Here for many long 
years had the brethren dwelt, praying 
much and laboring hard. Most of them 
were old, and at last it came about that 
not one of them could sing. So the 
Father Abbot decreed that many parts 
of the office that were generally sung 
should henceforth be recited only. One 
exception, however, he made : 

"We must, my brethren," he said, 
"always sing the 'Magnificat.' We 
must do our best ; for we cannot con- 
tent ourselves with only saying our 
Lady's song." 

So every day at vespers the "Mag- 
nificat" was sung — if such a word 
could rightly be applied to the dis- 
cordant sounds that arose from the 
voices — some cracked, some tuneless, 
and all feeble — of the brethren. The 
birds outside were frightened and fled 
away. The brethren knew this, but in 
all humility of heart, sang on. It was 
Father Abbot's decree — they had only 
to obey. 

And this lasted for years. But one 
Christmas eve a young man came to 
the monastery door and offered himself 
as a postulant. It turned out that 
among his qualifications was that of a 
good voice. The morning came and 
loud and clear rose the sound of a mag- 
nificent tenor. "Now," they said joy- 



ously, "the 'Magnificat' will be mag- 
nificently sung." 

So they admitted the candidate, and 
at vespers that very evening there rose 
up a "Magnificat!" from the monas- 
tery choir such as the monks thought 
must have been sung by a seraph. 

The birds came flying back to listen. 
The monks were too busy in prayer 
and praise to see the look of self-com- 
placency on the young man 's face ; and 
they could not, of course, read his 
thoughts, which ran: "What a gain I 
shall be to this community — the only 
one who can sing; I shall get on well. 
How lovely is my voice. How they are 
admiring it!" 

The night drew on, and the monks 
were rapt in prayer, when suddenly 
amongst them stood an angel form. 
Very beautiful and glorious was the 
celestial visitation ; but yet his face was 
sad, almost stern. He spoke and the 
monks listened in awestruck silence. 

"I am sent hither, ' ' he said, ' ' by my 
Lord and my king to know why no 
' Magnificat ' has been sung tonight. For 
many a long year a sweet melody has 
floated up to heaven from this choir, 
when with fervent grateful hearts you 
sang His Mother's song and His own. 
Why, then, in the first blessed vespers 
of the nativity are you silent? Not a 
song has reached the ear of God." 

He did not wait for a reply. How 
could mortals answer him? They fell 
prone upon the ground, and the angel 
disappeared. The postulant departed 
to another monastery, and afterwards 
the monks sang the "Magnificat" and 
Jesus heard in heaven His Mother's 
song. 



480 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 

Persecutions and Martyrs. 



A most popular devotion amongst us 
Tests upon our recollection of the 
martyrs and saints who served the 
church in its early ages. It is always 
of interest to study the careers of those 
splendid men and women who suffered 
for the Faith. 

One might say that the first persecu- 
tion of the Christians, and in this con- 
sideration we do not include the partic- 
ular venom visited upon our Lord Him- 
self, was directed against St. Peter and 
St. John. St. Peter's place as head of 
the Apostles, the effect of his first mir- 
acle, and his fearless preaching, drew 
upon him the hatred of the chief 
priests as they had hated his Master 
before him. These Apostles were seized 
many times and thrown into prison. 
Only the counsels of one of their num- 
ber, Gamaliel, kept the enraged and 
desperate priests from putting both to 
death at that time. 

The crown of martyrdom came first 
to St. Stephen in A. D. 33, which be- 
came the occasion of St. Paul's con- 
version. In fact the hatred and bitter- 
ness of the Jews at this time was so 
violent that it really hastened the dis- 
persion of the Apostles into different 
lands. St. James, who remained as 
bishop of Jerusalem, was killed eleven 
years later as was his successor, St. 
James the Less. 

Now into everyone of the countries 
where the Apostles pushed their work 
for Christ, persecutions came to them 
and their followers sooner or later. The 



particular place of horror, however, 
was Rome where in 44 St. Peter settled 
permanently as head of the Church 
afcer six years as Bishop of Antioch. 
It was in Rome that persecutions came 
with such utter malignity and such 
frequency that even the unbeliever, 
Renan, bears testimony that "the 
Christian may be said to have lived 
with the prospect of torture and death 
ever before him." 

Causes of Persecution. 

But before considering the number 
of early martyrs to the teachings of 
Christ let us first reflect a little upon 
the causes of these persecutions. Speak- 
ing of conditions thus far we have met 
only the hatred and malignity of the 
Jewish priests and elders who saw in 
Christianity the destruction of their 
own power, perhaps the downfall of 
their religious belief. Naturally they 
were unscrupulous in the methods of 
attack upon the new religion. All the 
powers of the devil let loose in religi- 
ous hatred, and there is no more malig- 
nant form, were visited upon teachers 
and followers in the infant church. But 
on coming to Rome a new set of condi- 
tions were to be faced. New reasons 
for attack on the Church were found. 
These may be summed up as follows: 
the prejudice of the people, that of the 
statesmen and rulers, and finally the 
jealousies of the sovereigns. 

In popular opinion Christianity was 
at first confused with the Jewish reli- 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 481 



gion, and Christians met with much of 
the prejudice which for years had been 
held against the Jews. The Romans 
commonly believed Hebrews to be athe- 
ists. They hated the Jews for refusing 
to take part in Roman worship of the 
gods, for refusing to intermarry, for 
their peculiar code of morals, even for 
the food they ate. Jews were scattered 
widely throughout the empire. So it 
seems that even before converts in 
in every class of Roman society estab- 
lished the Christians as a separate reli- 
gious body, they were hated because of 
being confused with the Jews in the 
public mind. 

But this soon changed. The Chris- 
tians grew in numbers. Gradually, yet 
rapidly, tales of prejudice changed 
public opinion. The old stories, used 
to discredit the Jews, were now turned 
against the Christians. It is said that 
the Jews hastened this end for their 
own purposes. However, Christians 
soon came to be known, among those 
who did not understand them, as a 
degraded type. Most horrible stories 
were told of them and of their secret 
meetings. Under cover of darkness 
when they met for worship, horrible 
cruelties of all kinds were said to be 
practiced by them. The Jews may be 
said to have been once the object of 
Roman prejudice but there can be no 
comparison formed between that old 
feeling and the universal hate and vio- 
lence now stirred up against the Chris- 
tians. 

Because Christians always held aloof 
from public affairs, nearly always con- 
nected with pagan worship, in which of 



course, there was danger of their lives, 
they were said to be good for nothing. 
They came to be despised. They were 
accredited with the evil eye — with 
powers of magic for working evil. Even 
educated people grow to believe these 
wild stories. The ignorant were, of 
course, thoroughly convinced of their 
truth, even up to the third or fourth 
centuries. If trouble came in any form 
to the Roman it was the black art of 
the Christians that was said to be re- 
sponsible for it all. 

It was easy then for tyrants and mis- 
creants, like the Emperor Nero, to find 
a public scapegoat, to blame their own 
enormities on the Christians and thus 
divert public indignation upon help- 
less and innocent people. Savage out- 
bursts against the Christians thus 
maligned, frequently took place. Riots 
ensued. All over the empire trouble 
arose, the result of careful planning. 
Popular fury, fanned by unscrupulous 
persons could not always be restrained 
or even directed. Rulers of the first 
century used this feeling outrageously. 
Those of the second century, more en- 
lightened, often endeavored to protect 
their Christian subjects from the un- 
reasonable hatred and violence of the 
people. 

The Roman never understood the 
Christian. To lead a quiet life as the 
Christians did was repugnant to this 
warlike person. He could not grasp 
the idea of a man who shunned public 
office, military service, popular festivi- 
ties of the sort then current. A Chris- 
tian must hate the human race since he 
didn't mix with them, the pagan mind 



482 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



reasoned. Christians were considered 
stubborn and obstinate and supersti- 
tious. They represented a party of free- 
dom in a really despotic state. Rulers 
served by slaves, would not permit a 
religion that denounced slavery, hence 
to be a Christian was to be a crime 
against the state. It meant death. 

Nero charged Christians with the 
burning of Rome, a lie many times dis- 
proved by the writers of his own day. 
Maximin, another emperor, outlawed 
them for no other reason than that his 
predecessor in office, whom he hated, 
seemed to have protected the Chris- 
tians. Decius, a later ruler was sim- 
ilarly actuated. Valerian hated them 
because of his own religion of sooth- 
saying, superstitious practices. An- 
other ruler derived his hatred of them 
from his mother who was a priestess in 
a pagan form of religion. So, various 
reasons may be assigned for the malig- 
nant hatred met by the Church in its 
spread of the doctrines of Christ. 

Organized Persecution. 

It was into this empire that St. Peter 
came to take his place as head of the 
Church. Rome ruled the world at that 
time. Her armies went everywhere. 
The logical place for the first Pope, 
then, was in the seat of the greatest 
world empire. Under protection of her 
armies the Apostles and missionaries 
could go forth everywhere into the 
wildest and most inaccessible places. 
The work of Christ could better be 
carried on in Rome and directed from 
Rome. No other place had such means 
of communication with the outside 
world. So, to the Eternal City St. Peter 



came, to meet the terrible persecution 
which for hundreds of years deluged 
the land with the blood of martyrs. St. 
Peter and St. Paul were among the 
first to yield up their lives to its fury, 
dying in the year 67. Hundreds died 
with them in Rome. Many Christians 
died everywhere at this time in the 
campaign of the Roman armies which 
closed with the awful destruction of 
Jerusalem in 70. 

But in Rome under Nero from 54 to 
88 the first thoroughly organized perse- 
cution took place. Having just aroused 
the fury of the people by his burning 
of the city, the Christians, blamed for 
the catastrophe, were seized and put to 
death in great numbers, crucified, ex- 
posed in the arena to the fury of mad- 
dened animals, covered with pitch, set 
on fire and placed as torches to light 
the public highways. These were but 
a few of the favorite tortures. We 
have no means of estimating the exact 
number of those who died for the Faith 
during this period, yet in ferocity and 
horror the persecution of Nero is re- 
markable as no other for its particular 
devilishness and malignity. 

In cruelty, debauchery and implac- 
able hatred of Christians, the emperor 
Domitian, who ruled in 81, was not 
far behind. It was he who issued the 
first government edict of persecution. 
Trajan, a later ruler, followed this 
with confiscation of all Christian prop- 
erty. Throughout the empire which 
meant practically the whole known 
world, these edicts were carried out. 
In Asia all the inhabitants of one vil- 
lage suffered death. In Syria, St. 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 483 



Simeon, third bishop of Jerusalem, 120 
years old, won world-wide admiration 
for indomitable courage in his long 
drawn out torture and death. St. Ig- 
natius, bishop of Antioch, followed, 
killed by lions. Egypt, Greece, India 
and Asia Minor all had their quota of 
martyrs. In the West, in Gaul, Spain, 
Africa, Germany and Britain scores of 
martyrs to the faith are recorded. 

Under the emperor Hadrian in 117 
came an edict ordering trial for all 
accused Christians. Yet, unjust perse- 
cutions, suffering and death continued. 
St. Symphorosa and her seven sons, St. 
Telesphorus, pope, and St. Marus re- 
ceived their crown under this tyrant 
who later issued an edict aimed at 
Christian gatherings for religious serv- 
ice, altogether forbidding them. 

Martyrs. 

Tranquility came to the church for 
a while in the middle of the third cen- 
tury, only to have persecution break 
out again in Asia. Here crowds of 
Christians were killed by every con- 
ceivable form of torture, among them 
Germanicus and the great bishop, Poly- 
carp. Spreading to Rome St. Pelicitas 
and her seven children died horribly. 
France, too, suffered at this time with 
many martyrs in Lyons and other 
towns, 19,000 according to estimates. 

In 193 by an edict all conversions 
and efforts at church work were for- 
bidden, yet fresh persecutions broke 
out. Saints Perpetua and Pelicitas 
died at this time in Carthage. Under 
the emperor Decius came a determina- 
tion to crush out the church by all 
means. Prisons, fire, stripes, wild 



beasts, melted wax, boiling pitch, red 
hot pincers, racks and iron hooks were 
all used in torture. The same con- 
tinued under Valerian, found names of 
martyrs like St. Cyprian, bishop of 
Carthage, St. Laurence in Rome, St. 
Cyrillus, St. Felix, pope, and St. Diony- 
sius, bishop of Paris. In Gaul, a legion 
of soldiers, 6,600 strong, refused wor- 
ship to the pagan gods. Every tenth 
man was called out and killed. A 
second time this was done yet the sur- 
vivors held out. All who remained 
were then butchered, dying cheerfully 
with the name of Christ on their lips. 

The last persecution came in 298 
ordering the destruction of all 
churches, the burning of all sacred 
scriptures and the enslavement of all 
Christians. In the first month in Rome 
more than fifteen thousand perished. 
St. Sebastian and St. Agnes, St. Alban 
in Britain, others in Gaul and Belgium 
suffered martyrdom. Spain lost St. 
Vincent. In the East not a Christian 
was permitted to escape. Hell seemed 
to rally all its forces for a last desperate 
effort. Human barbarity had attained 
its height. Yet it was all in vain. 
Many were the instances of remarkable 
fortitude. Women, boys and girls 
eagerly went forth to meet the tortures, 
suffering unheard of torment bravely 
and without flinching. Thousands died 
in Rome alone. While numbers may 
not be given, it is indeed true that the 
entire known world was actually 
drenched with the blood of those who 
gave their lives for Christ. And with 
what result ? A story is told of a king 
who visited the Holy Father in the last 



484 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



century. He asked for a relic of the 
martyrs. They were walking in the 
Vatican gardens at the time. The Pope 
stooped, picked up a handful of earth 
and gave it to his visitor, saying, 
"every atom of earth in Rome knew 
the blood of martyrs. This is a real 
relic." 

Diocletian and Maximian, emperors 
of Rome, openly boasted of the "uni- 
versal extirpation of the name of 
Christ." It was their belief that the 
Christian name had been actually 
blotted from the earth. Yet, today, 
many centuries after their time, when 
theirs is but a memory, reviled and 
execrated, recollection of their inno- 
cent victims is fresh, beautiful and in- 
spiring. The name of Christ is forever 
to be revered. His teaching is known 
to every nation under the sun and his 
Church, strengthened by the example 
no less by the very blood of those holy 
men and women, Saints of God, will 
continue until the end of time. 

In the blood of martyrs is the safety 
of the Church, the seed of its pros- 
perity. Its greatest strength came in 
these days of real adversity. 

Altar Boys. 

There are few practices of the 
Church more interesting than the part 
given to children in all the beautiful 
ceremonies of her ritual. In her most 
solemn processions of the Blessed Sac- 
rament, on Holy Thursday, even the 
little altar boys are admitted into the 
recollected ranks which precede the 
priest having on his bosom the Lord of 



Hosts, under such a simple form, such 
a lowly disguise. 

There is no day in the year, however 
lowly the Church, or however retired, 
that the priest who says Mass has not 
at his side one, two or even more little 
boys who thus voluntarily wait upon 
God in His house. They are as early 
as six o'clock, in their neat little cas- 
socks and surplices ; and with what de- 
lighted alacrity they watch every mo- 
tion of the priest, to know when they 
are to carry the large missal from the 
Epistle to the Gospel side; hand to 
him the water and the wine for the 
chalice, or for the ablutions, and when 
to ring the little bell, or spread the 
communion cloth over the rail ! There 
are few more touching sights in the 
world than the attendance of these lit- 
tle boys on the weekly Mass. Then 
when Sunday comes, what a train of 
these little acolytes precede the priest 
into the sanctuary; how bright are 
their faces ; how smooth and white 
their surplices ; how sweet and fresh 
and clean even to their finger nails, 
and how smooth each youngster's hair 
is brushed, and how nicely he has his 
shoes blackened; for a slovenly altar 
boy is a disgrace. 

We have seen these little boys grow- 
ing up to be good youths, punctual at 
their confession and holy communion; 
at the parish school or college they 
were very apt to draw the prizes, and 
then — waiting for a few years — I have 
seen them quietly joining the ranks of 
those aspiring to be priests of God, 
actual dispensaries of the holy mys- 
teries, at which, for so many of their 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 485 



childish years, they have reverently as- 
sisted. 

The young boys who throng the sanc- 
tuary of a Sunday can hardly know 
with what anxiously loving hearts they 
are watched by pious friends, or how, 
many a time, they are envied their 
nearness to Jesus, under the Blessed 
Sacrament by those who are kneeling 
afar off in their pews. 

How to Receive Communion. 

While at the sanctuary rail, hold the 
head erect. Keep it perfectly still dur- 
nig the moment the priest extends the 
Blessed Sacrament toward you. Do not 
move the face an inch forward to meet 
the priest's hand half way, as too many 
do. A moving face worries the priest 
terribly, lest he may drop the Host. 
The more you keep your head as still 
as a statue the more respectfully you 
receive. Open the mouth moderately. 
Extend the tongue so as to cover the 
lower lip completely. The priest does 
not wish to push the Sacred Host into 
the open mouth. He wishes to lay It 
flat on the tongue, and press It down 
gently with his thumb, lest it may fall 
off when you draw It in. 

After he has placed the Host on the 
tongue do not instantly bow the head 
for fear that you may hit his hand with 
your hat, as some girls and women do. 
Give him time to pass to the next com- 
municant before you do any bowing. 
As bad as moving faces are, hats with 
big brims or feathers are worse. Re- 
member, the priest stands high above 
your head. In his position a wide- 
brimmed hat completely hides your 
face. "Wear a narrow hat, or tilt it 



back while at the rail. After receiving, 
draw the tongue in slowly, allow the 
Host to moisten, and swallow It de- 
voutty. If you have received two or 
more particles, it makes no difference. 
Do not stay at the altar rail too long. 
If others are waiting for the place you 
occupy, retire with eyes cast down 
modestly and hands clasped or arms 
folded respectfully, or at least not 
swinging awkwardly. Our Lord may 
not care how the hands are if the heart 
is all right. He may not care if the 
clothes are soiled, once the soul is clean. 
And yet we owe Him all possible re- 
spect in neatness of soul, neatness of 
body and neatness of attire. In this 
regard, both rich and poor stand on 
equal footing. Outward respect costs 
nothing. When done for God's sake, 
it is an act of worship. Let us show 
to those who set us at the Lord's table 
that we really believe in His Divine 
Presence. 

i 

The Miraculous Host of Amsterdam. 

Miracles of the Blessed Sacrament 
have ready acceptance among the faith- 
ful, yet the occurrences at Amsterdam 
in the year 1345 is not a vague popular 
tradition. Records of the city as well 
as of the Church attest the authenticity 
of this miracle. 

On March 15, 1345, a citizen of Am- 
sterdam, Ysbrant Dommer, was taken 
seriously ill and the last Sacraments 
were administered by the priest. Short- 
ly after the priest had gone the patient 
was taken violently sick. Without 
thinking, the woman attendant threw 
the contents of the basin into a large 
open fire on the hearth. Next morning 



486 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



when starting the fire this woman was 
startled to behold the Sacred Host in- 
tact and brilliant with whiteness 
among the coals. Instinctively she 
reached out to protect the Host from 
the flames, and the "same supernatural 
power that had prevented the fierce 
element from consuming the Host also 
kept the fire from injuring the woman 's 
hand." Reverently she wrapped the 
Blessed Sacrament in a clean linen 
cloth and placed it safely away in a 
chest. The priest was sent for and the 
matter explained. Following the usual 
practice he placed the Sacred Host in 
his pyx and then proceeded carefully 
to wash the napkin. When he turned 
again to the pyx he found it open and 
the Host had disappeared. The most 
careful search proved in vain, until the 
next day when the same woman looking 
for something else in the chest, found 
the Host lying on a linen cloth. The 
priest, again notified, began to realize 
the extraordinary and calling in some 
of the other clergy for consultation, 
they agreed with him that it was a di- 
rect proof of God's power and mercy. 
In solemn procession the miraculous 
Host was carried back to the church. 

An official enquiry was made by the 
civil magistrate which confirmed the 
above statement of fact. Church au- 
thorities, holding a more extended en- 
quiry finally permitted the clergy of 
Amsterdam to spread abroad the won- 
ders of God's omnipotence as revealed 
in their midst. In 1361, a chapel was 
erected on the spot where the miracle 
took place, called the "Heilige Stede" 
or Holy Place. In it was preserved the 
fireplace, the silent witness of the mir- 



acle. About a hundred years later in 
1452, a great fire destroyed most of 
the town of Amsterdam and threatened 
the "Heilige Stede." Locksmiths were 
called in to open the tabernacle in or- 
der to save the miraculous Host. Their 
efforts proved fruitless their tools broke 
off short and they were forced to leave 
to save themselves from the flames. 
Yet, when it was all over, the building 
and even the tabernacle itself destroyed 
by the flames, there remained in the 
glowing ruins the vessel containing the 
miraculous Host ,found intact with- 
out even its silken cover singed by the 
fire. 

The long list of special favors re- 
ceived by the people previous to the 
fire was greatly augmented when the 
chapel was rebuilt. Enormous crowds 
flocked there on the occasion of the 
annual pilgrimage, the anniversary of 
the miracle. Even the persecutions of 
the so-called Reformation could not ex- 
tinguish this devotion. The chapel was 
forcibly taken away. The Beguines, 
partly religious and partly secular in 
their mode of living, did what they 
could to preserve in their church the 
relics of this miracle. But in 1607 
even this last refuge was confiscated. 
In a small building adjoining the 
church the devotion was kept alive. 
Gradually conditions improved mak- 
ing possible a larger building where 
the devotion has been carried on ever 
since. Private celebrations of the an- 
niversary were kept up, but it was not 
until 1845, the fifth century of the 
miracle, that a public demonstration 
was possible. 

The Miracle of the Blessed Sacra- 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 487 



ment continues, the pride and glory of 
Amsterdam and the faith of ages has 
borne fruit in the revival of Catholicity 
in this pre-Reformation stronghold. 

Ne Temere. 

Because of questions directed against 
it there is always interest found in 
consideration of the regulations of the 
church on the Sacrament of matrimony. 
Especially is this true concerning 
church law known to the world as "Ne 
Temere." It is called the new mar- 
riage law, which went into effect on 
Easter, 1908, perhaps the most im- 
portant disciplinary law published 
since the council of Trent. It affects 
the whole world, not merely one nation 
nor one people. 

The council of Trent made prudent 
provision against the rash celebration 
of marriages — always deprecated and 
forbidden by the church — almost ex- 
actly as the law is given to us today. 
But the council decreed that its laws 
should have force only in those places 
where council decrees should be pro- 
mulgated. It happened, therefore, that 
many places, missionary countries for 
instance, where the publication of the 
law was not made, were deprived of 
the benefit of the Tridentine regula- 
tions. So doubts and inconveniences 
arose on the important matter of a 
Sacrament which called for publication 
of what was in many places a new law 
of marriage on Easter Sunday, 1908. 

Perhaps the best way to explain the 
law is to give time only to those fea- 
tures which concern the average man 
and woman. 

There are many regulations for pas- 



tors and those before whom marriage is 
contracted, which do not here receive 
attention. 

Marriage is a Sacrament. One can 
receive Sacraments only from a duly 
authorized priest. Therefore, in ar- 
ranging for marriage it is necessary to 
present ourselves to the priest in charge 
oi' the parish in which we live Nobody 
else can perform the ceremony. No 
one else has authority under the law, 
unless it be the Bishop of the place 
who delegates his right to the pastor. 
In cases where there are assistant 
priests, the pastor may delegate them 
to act for him in the celebration of 
marriages. But always the pastor of 
the parish in which one lives is the 
one in whom the right to the celebra- 
tion of marriages is vested, and to him 
one must present himself. 

It is recommended that we apply 
to our pastor at least three weeks be- 
fore the time set for the ceremony. 
The law of the church requires an- 
nouncements of intended marriages in 
the parish church for three consecutive 
Sundays. One of the reasons for which 
this is done is to discourage the rash 
celebration of hasty marriages. The 
law especially recommends and regu- 
lates betrothals for a period of time 
previous to marriage for the same good 
reasons. In making the arrangements 
one will be required to have a certifi- 
cate of your baptism, obtained either 
in person or by mail from the church 
in which he was baptized. This must 
be had before the ceremony and it 
would be well to obtain it in advance. 
The fact of the marriage must be sent 



488 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



back to the church of one's baptism, 
there to be recorded in the parish books, 
by the priest who performs the cere- 
mony. Hence the necessity of the cer- 
tificate, with other details, such as the 
record of names, two witnesses to the 
ceremony, the ring, the official license. 
Marriage, when performed, is properly 
recorded in the register of the parish. 

The Church law forbids the solemni- 
zation of marriage within forbidden 
times, Lent and Advent, from the first 
Sunday of Advent, usually about the 
first day of December up to New Years 
and from Ash "Wednesday to Easter 
Sunday. 

This supposes a marriage where both 
parties are members of the same parish. 
"When it happens that a man and wom- 
an, wishing to marry, are members of 
different parishes, then it is the rule 
to apply to the pastor of the parish in 
which the woman resides. In this case 
the man should come fortified with a 
note from his pastor, which means 
recommendation, and also shows cour- 
tesy to his pastor in thus notifying 
him of the intended ceremony. 
Marriage With a Non-Catholic. 

It happens that marriages are con- 
tracted by Catholics with those who are 
not members of the Church of Christ. 
Here we especially emphasize the fact 
that marriage is a sacrament to be re- 
ceived only from a priest. The Cath- 
olic party therefore must apply to his 
or her pastor in making arrangements. 
Baptism certificate is required as in 
other cases. The non-Catholic party 
is in some places required to sign cer- 
tain promises to the effect that there 
will be no interference in any way 



with the religion of the Catholic party, 
and that all children born of the mar- 
riage be raised in the Catholic faith. 
If the non-Catholic party be a woman, 
then there is set, in addition to the 
above promises, a course of instruc- 
tions in the Catholic faith to cover at 
least three weeks. Now in thus giving 
a non-Catholic girl instructions in the 
Catholic religion, it is not intended to 
coerce her in any way, nor to force her 
to join the church. But it is thought 
that if she, is to become the mother of 
children whom she agrees to raise and 
instruct in the Catholic faith, it is 
necessary that she know something of 
the religion in order to carry out her 
obligations. 

Certificates of baptism are required 
of non-Catholics also. The fact of their 
baptism must be established or not, 
either by actual certificate or by some- 
thing in the nature of an affidavit from 
parents or others in position to know. 
Recommendations. 

There are many things concerning 
marriages which ■ cannot be explained 
in this short consideration — questions 
of residence, details of ceremony and 
other things. Let us suggest that all 
call upon the priests of their parishes 
when in doubt. The visit and the in- 
formation will be received in confi- 
dence. All will be treated kindly. Full 
and complete explanation will be 
given. Especially when considering 
marriage with one who is not of our 
Faith let us urge you to go slowly and 
consider well. Pray fervently for light 
from God. Consult your confessor. 
Bring all doubts or questions about the 
change of state to your pastor, who is 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 489 



the shepherd of this flock, in charge of 
your souls, who with his assistant 
priests, are ever ready to help you. You 
will find the way made smooth for you. 
Don't make the terrible mistake of go- 
ing elsewhere in an emergency to settle 
the problem. Go to the parish house, 
or to your confessor, where you will 
always find the kindness and considera- 
tion which those of old found when 
they presented themselves to Him who 
came into the world to save us all. 

Christian Art. 

To be worthy of the ideals of the 
great Christian artists who in bygone 
years labored for the art treasures we 
enjoy, is a legitimate prayer for chil- 
dren of the church, quite in accordance 
with its devotions. 

Catholic young people share in the 
enthusiasm for the beautiful in art 
which is the treasure of cultured folks. 
That the present generation may con- 
tribute its share of art is the hope of 
all concerned. 

The mission of Christian art in the 
world is splendidly portrayed in the 
following press bulletin issued to the 
Catholic press by the Central Verein. 

An ardent appeal for the promotion 
of Christian art was addressed by His 
Eminence Cardinal Bertram, Prince 
Bishop of Breslau, to the Conference 
on Christian Art recently held in that 
German city. "The mission of art and 
the artist," His Eminence said, "is a 
particularly important one in this age 
in which men have lost God and yet 
have not lost the desire to seek Him." 

"You live in a world," thus he ad- 
dressed himself to the Christian artist, 



"filled with men seeking God, men 
longing for the true God. It is your 
task to bring them to view His great- 
.ness and holiness and love, to enable 
them to behold in your pictures the 
grandeur and the life-giving force of 
the saving facts of Christianity, to 
cause them to feel with you, through 
the medium of your works, the com- 
plete happiness of the soul enjoying 
full union with God. ' ' 

Having referred specifically to the 
deep humiliation, neediness and des- 
pondency that has come over the peo- 
ple of Germany, the Cardinal urged 
the artist to offer Christian consolation 
to the people, and continued: "You 
live in an age of wide-spread, gross ma- 
terialism. "What a message your crea- 
tions must convey of the significance of 
spiritual values, what a task is yours 
to make all your labors a compelling 
' Sursum corda ! ' " 

"You gaze everywhere upon faces 
distraught with discouragement. You 
must learn to enter into the spiritual 
needs of the people ; you must realize 
the duty to breathe courage and con- 
fidence in God into their souls — a 
breath of that joy which the Savior 
said that night in Gethsemane : 'Your 
joy no man shall take from you. ' These 
are tasks and duties so exalted, so holy, 
that many other questions, now being 
urged into the foreground of discus- 
sion, must recede before them. Chris- 
tian artist, realize your dignity." 

Art's Creation. 

The Christian artist, said His Emi- 
nence, lives and toils in this world, but 



490 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



it is his duty to lift the people beyond 
it, out of it, showing them the wealth 
which is theirs in another, loftier realm. 
Accepting this to be part of the mis- 
sion of Christian art, the Cardinal de- 
mands that art exert elevating im- 
pulses. "The creations of Christian 
art," he said, "will, I have the right 
to expect, assist me in approaching 
nearer to my God. By their aid I de- 
sire to become nobler in thought and 
will. Led by their hand, I trust to be 
able to rise rejoicingly to the 'Gloria 
in Exeelsis Deo,' to pray more devot- 
edly at the 'Agnus Dei, qui tollis pec- 
cata mundi'; led by them, I hope to 
read in the eyes of the saintly images a 
revelation of the life of saintly souls; 
they shall not picture to me a dream, 
however beautiful, but shall cause my 
poor human heart to be enlightened by 
a ray of Divine mercy." 

Such being the province of Christian 
art, it is evident that there is a truly 
religious, priestly mission to be carried 
out by it. Cardinal Bertram fittingly 
reminded his audience of the words 
which were spoken forty years ago at 
the grave of Ludwig Eichter, whom an 
American styled "the German people's 
artist:" " 'As an artist he has treas- 
ured and employed the heavenborn 
gift, granted him by God, with truly 
priestly devotion, ' — he has labored 
even as the priest labors for the honor 
of God and for the elevation and direc- 
tion of the soul of the people. That be- 
ing the task the Christian artist is to 
perform, it is readily seen why priest 
and artist ever feel closely related. 



Hence, also, my greeting to you comes 
from the depths of my soul." 

Mission of Christian Art. 

Christian art may derive encourage- 
ment from the thoughts expressed by 
the Cardinal towards the close of his 
address. "We are wont to rejoice," 
His Eminence declared, "over the 
growing enthusiasm for the Lay Apos- 
tolate, for the Men's Apostolate, the 
Apostolate of Charity and of the Press. 
To these should be joined the mission 
of Christian art as one of the most 
pleasing and most influential agencies 
for Apostolic endeavor. It is, indeed, 
a true and holy Apostolate which this 
art engages in, be it in the ancient log 
chapel at the forest's edge, where sim- 
ple peasants gather to recite the Ros- 
ary, be it in the architectural wealth of 
our Church of St. Matthew, or be it 
in the atmosphere of homelike cozyness 
that pervades our own unique cathe- 
dral. The little picture of the Vir- 
gin hanging over the bed of a poor 
child, exerts an apostolate just as sure- 
ly as the most precious, artistic osten- 
sory borne aloft in the Corpus Christi 
procession, or the modest roadside 
shrine which greets the passing wan- 
derer. May the choicest fruit of this 
conference be that new paths be 
opened, new appreciation be fostered, 
and new champions be enrolled for this 
Apostolic activity." 

Cardinal Bertram's eulogy of the 
mission of Christian art and artists 
should serve as an inspiration in our 
country, also, to those comparatively 
few who give their lives to the cause 
of Christian art and to all who are in 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 491 



a position to promote this cause, be it 
on ever so modest a scale. 

The Church and Art. 

We find a splendid article on this 
subject in Truth magazine, reprint of 
a lecture by Very Rev. Prior Power, 0. 
C. C, at Melbourne, Australia. Church 
encouragement at all times in history 
is carefully noted. 

The Catholic Church's object was 
well defined by Cardinal Newman, 
when he said : ' ' Her mission is to sanc- 
tify the elect and to increase their 
number. ' ' When she does this, she has 
done all that can reasonably be de- 
manded of her. Without inspiring the 
poet, putting pencil into the hand of 
the painter, blessing the work of the 
architect, consecrating the labors of the 
musician, and appealing to the senses 
and heart of man by graceful move- 
ments and mystic cermonial, she would 
have accomplished all that her Spouse 
set her to do when she preached the 
Gospel to the little ones and gathered 
nations unto Christ. But the Church 
cannot ignore human passion ; she can- 
not be deaf to the cries and longings of 
the human heart, and she must appre- 
ciate the mute appeal of the dumb mil- 
lions of her children. Who can tell of 
the love and aspiration and dreams of 
beauty seen in that Light that is not on 
land or sea? 

Artistic Expression. 

Art may be defined as the applica- 
tion of skill and taste to production ac- 
cording to the aesthetic principles, or, 
perhaps, more rightly the expression of 



beauty in form, color, sound, speech 
and movement. The artist tells of 
what he feels, of the visions he has seen, 
or the wondrous melodies that haunt 
his gifted soul. Of the artist, it may 
be said : ' ' Through long days of sorrow 
and nights devoid of ease, he still heard 
in his soul the echoes of wonderful 
melodies." Mere prosaic words on 
rigid lines or strumming sounds fail 
when the artist would tell his fellow- 
men of the thoughts that glow within 
his breast. As a lover must call upon 
the starry firmament, the flower-decked 
earth, the rippling rills and sobbing 
sea to tell of the passion that absorbs 
his soul, so the artist must devise a 
language, a color scheme, a symphony 
and a form, if he would attempt, how- 
ever inadequately, to tell of what he 
knows, what he feels and what he has 
beheld. The artist is a singer, minstrel, 
designer or painter. Long before the 
dumb walls of the Sistine Chapel spoke 
the immortal message of Michael An- 
gelo, Raphael, and a host of others; 
long before the mute leaves resounded 
to the music and lived by the touch of 
Dante 's pen ; and long before the hard, 
cold rock rose into the wondrous maze 
of beauty of the cathedral at Milan, 
the fairy fabrics and the pleading mel- 
ody were heard, seen and loved in the 
recluse solitudes of the artist's mind. 
Yet the thoughts and feelings and the 
haunting sense of beauty besetting the 
artist can never be adequately expressed 
by the means available to men beneath 
the stars. He has lifted the veil and 
he has seen, but his creation has failed 
to envisage the vision, and the artistic 



492 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



spirit mourns "while her tears are 
upon her cheeks." 

The Church Ever Encourages Art. 

Is it to be wondered that Mother 
Church should call the musician, the 
painter, the architect, and the sculptor 
to her feet, whisper something of her 
message in their ears, kiss them upon 
the lips, and strive to communicate to 
their souls something of the fear that 
consumes her own, and bid them go 
forth with her blessing to tell what 
they have seen and heard? Beneath 
the graves of Imperial Rome we find 
the first strivings of Christian art. The 
catacombs bear testimony of the efforts 
of the early Christians to express them- 
selves in form, color and love in their 
rude paintings, and rough arches and 
altars of the Faith that possessed them ? 
When the Church emerged from cen- 
turies of persecution and became a liv- 
ing force, she found a world in which 
sadness was the keynote. Monuments 
erected to the memory of the dead were 
inscribed: "Farewell for ever." Men 
were without hope ; with most of them 
this world was the be-all and the end- 
all, and gloom had settled on the hearts 
and spirits of men; cynicism and 
satire abounded. Mutinous hordes of 
clamoring soldiers came from the dark 
forests of the north, and dared to bat- 
ter upon the gates of Imperial Rome. 
Art and science seemed to have aban- 
doned Europe. Wars and rumors of 
war were the order of the day. It 
was a life struggle, and the mus'es were 
asleep. How was it that Europe, from 
the sixth to the end of the tenth cen- 
tury, did not relapse into primeval bar- 



barism or tribal isolation ? The answer 
is to be found in the existence of the 
Church. She, and she alone, remained 
vigilant throughout the dreary night, 
and guarded the fragments that were 
left of the mighty banquet of art and 
beauty whose table sated Europe. 

Exquisite Irish Art. 

During that period the Church could 
hardly do more than keep hope alive 
within the hearts of her children. If 
the Church were not immortal, she 
must have died, too. There was hardly 
any great achievement in Christian art. 
Great philosophers and great theolo- 
gians stimulated the Christian world-, 
Dut they viewed reality from another 
standpoint than that of art. It was 
in marked contrast to the ages of faith. 
Then the sadness disappeared from 
men's minds, and color, form, music 
and movement became living forces. 
Men rejoiced in their new-born youth. 
When the world seemed dying and it 
appeared that Europe would return 
to the tribal system, there was only one 
bright spot — Ireland. When all Eur- 
ope was in turmoil, the little Green 
Isle alone was at peace. Ireland has 
had many troubles since, but at that 
time the whole land was in a peaceful 
state. The gold work produced in Ire- 
land in those days is the admiration of 
the world today. The Irish gold work- 
ers, inspired by faith and love of art, 
fashioned the metal into beautiful 
shapes and designs. Many of their en- 
gravings remain, but thousands must 
have perished as a result of the raids 
made by the Norsemen and when the 
none too gentle hand of the Saxon was 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 493 



felt in the land. Manuscripts copied 
in the hermit cells in Ireland are mas- 
terpieces of beauty and chaste illum- 
ination. The soul of the artist appears 
in the wondrous work of illumination 
and in the exquisitely carved jewels 
and crosses. In these beautiful speci- 
mens of high-class art the Celtic artists 
showed themselves to be supreme. If 
invaders had never entered Ireland, 
and left the country at peace, art would 
most likely have attained the pinnacle 
of perfection in Ireland. The Celtic 
monks were great artists, and their 
work stands out as magnificent exam- 
ples of the period when Ireland was 
the bright spot in a troubled and un- 
settled world. However, Ireland was 
not allowed to develop art untram- 
meled, but there is a sense of satis- 
faction in the knowledge that art flour- 
ished in Ireland as it flourished no- 
where else when the land was free from 
the invader. 

An Awakened Europe. 

At last Europe awakened from her 
slumber at the trumpet-tongued voice 
of Pope Gregory VII. Lethargy gave 
place to action, and Europe stretched 
her mighty limbs. It was the dawn of 
the Middle Ages. The new Rome by 
the Golden Horn became a center of 
artistic attraction. Art and poetry 
flourished beneath the patronage of the 
Byzantine emperors. The beauty of the 
Byzantine architecture was evolved, 
and its most wonderful masterpiece 
was the Cathedral of St. Sophia, which 
still stands, though diverted from 
Christian worship. Poets sang there, 
and musicians composed hymns and 



sacred services. The wondrous beauty 
of the Eastern liturgy was evolved, and 
some faint resemblance to the Augus- 
tine age of old Rome was inaugurated 
under Christian influence. 

The Middle Ages. 

Gloom and sorrow were the charac- 
teristics of the period when Europe 
slept, but joy, gladness, light and color 
were the characteristics of the ages of 
the Church's power. The troubadours 
strung their guitars, and the wondrous 
feast of architecture known as the 
Gothic school arose, rivalling in beauty 
in lightness and in fairy-like propor- 
tion the matted trees of the forest ; 
every stone in these fanes was hewn 
from the quarry by hands that tingled 
with love, and the whole glorious work 
told of fervent faith. The tapestries 
that adorned the walls, and are still 
among the priceless treasures of Eu- 
rope, were the artist's expression of 
faith and love. The world that men 
thought dumb lived again, and beau- 
ties of color and form ran riot through- 
out the length and breadth of Europe. 
Sir Walter Scott, speaking of the win- 
dow of Melrose Abbey, compared it to 
the "poplar entwined with the willow, 
changed to stone by a fairy spell." A 
modern writer, wrapped in admiration 
of the masterpiece of Gothic architec- 
ture at Milan, cried out : " It is no 
fane, however beauteous, nor cathedral 
however grand ; it is an anthem sung in 
stone, a poem in marble." Another 
epithet applied to these products of 
Christian faith is "Prose and Poetry." 
If the Catholic Church did nothing 
more during the 2000 years of her ex- 



494 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



istence, either spiritually or artistically, 
for mankind than to inspire the build- 
ers of the cathedrals of Milan, Canter- 
bury, Kheims, Ameins and a thousand 
others dotted throughout the length and 
breadth of Europe, she would have 
earned the undying gratitude of hu- 
manity. The Drama 

The modern drama found its origin 
in the mystery plays of the Church. 
Carlisle speaks of Shakespeare as ' ' The 
last rose of Catholicism blooming late. ' ' 
The feast days of the Church were ob- 
served with a luxuriance of music, 
drama and color that speaks of a race 
in whose heart was buoyant hope. Hers 
it was to tell the Gospel story, and so 
she summoned the aid of the musician, 
whose weird chants she has preserved 
in the darkest night of struggle ; and 
also the artist, who depicts in stone, 
cornice or rude cross the figure of the 
agonizing Christ. The pulpit of the 
orator was in the market place, and 
the towering stage of the dramatist 
was to be found in the square of every 
European cathedral at festive seasons. 
Dante, the product of Mother Church 
and the eloquent spirit of medieval 
civilization, inspires mankind with his 
Christian thoughts. If the Church had 
produced none but Dante, humanity 
would ever be her debtor. 

The Renaissance. 

When the brilliance of the medieval 
period had well nigh spent itself, a new 
movement was felt in Europe, having 
its origin in the East. The fall of Con- 
stantinople towards the end of the fif- 
teenth century drove the custodians of 
the artistic wealth of an older civiliza- 



tion to seek refuge in Rome and in the 
various capitals of Christendom. They 
were received with open arms by the 
Popes and Bishops, and the period 
known as the Renaissance began. This 
period has its critics from the moral 
angle, but from the artistic and human- 
itarian point of view the Renaissance 
is indeed the golden age. It is the 
time when beauty ran riot, and color 
in form and song were seen and heard 
in wild luxuriance throughout the 
civilized world. Popes became the con- 
noisseurs of art, and Cardinals its pa- 
trons. The Tuscan school of paintings 
reached the zenith of its power; classic 
form prevailed in everything. Chris- 
tianity supplied an inspiration in art 
that the pagan classic ever lacked. Most 
if not all, of the modern conceptions of 
the features and forms of Christ, the 
Madonna and the saints date from this 
period. The wondrous decorations of 
the Sistine Chapel were completed, and 
the paintings that still dazzle the minds 
of men in the galleries of Rome, Flor- 
ence, Venice, Milan, Berlin, Madrid, 
Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Lon- 
don originated at this time. The cul- 
ture reminiscent of Greece at her best 
was Christianized, and was utilized by 
followers of the Crucified. It was a 
wondrously luxuriant period ; the 
world has received a rich heritage from 
this period. Popular art and most of 
the popular poems are fashioned on the 
materials of the giants that lived in 
those days. 

Spirit of the Chtirch. 

The ancient pagans had their sacred 
dances or solemn processions, and 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 495 



Mother Church, heir of the ages, shows 
wondrous artistic sense in adapting 
these ceremonies and infusing into 
them her own spirit. The impressive 
ceremonial of the last days of Holy 
Week — the sad Misereres, the sad 
chant, the piercing lamentations, the 
stripped altar, and the priests clad in 
mourning garments — move all whose 
souls are human and whose hearts are 
of flesh. Oh ! what a triumph is her 
Solemn Mass. All this soulful, artistic 
and cultured spirit comes from the 
breast of the Mother, who is the living 
image of Him, "Who hath done all 
things well." 

The Holy Grail. 

An interesting study of this sub- 
ject we find in an article contributed to 
the New World, Chicago, by Mrs. Isa- 
bel Inez Garrison. 

Genoa, Bruges and Aberystwith — 
this trinity of historic cities — far dis- 
tant from one another in miles, are 
closely associated in the bonds of the 
immortal legend of the Cup of San 
Grael — The Holy Grail. Despite bol- 
shevism, socialism, materialism and all 
the recurring faddisms of the times, 
somehow the pure romance of that leg- 
end and its supporting traditions still 
persist. 

It is the age-old story of a cup, no 
phantom, but a story of the cup itself 
from which Our Lord drank at His last 
supper, in which, according to tradi- 
tion He changed the wine into His 
blood. This cup, kept then by Joseph 
of Arimathea, again, according to the 
tradition, was used to receive the blood 
which flowed from the wounded side of 



Christ as He hung on the cross. The 
same Joseph is supposed to have 
brought the cup to Glastonbury in the 
old borough of Somersetshire, England, 
where he is said to have founded the 
first Christian church in England. He 
planted his pilgrim's staff on Weary- 
all-Hill where it took root, the legend 
says, and, "mindful of the Lord, blos- 
soms every Christmas eve." In the 
middle ages, the romance of the quest 
of the Holy Grail, as it was called, was 
a popular subject in England and was 
the theme of bard, minnesinger and 
troubadour in every castle and hall. 

In this age, castles and halls are 
ruins, the knight's tough lance is rusty, 
the knights themselves are dust. Their 
acts were but a day, though the in- 
spiration they furnished gave to musi- 
cians, artists and poets the loftiest in- 
spirations in extolling the high romance 
of the Holy Grail. More precious is 
this ancient tradition to Catholics since 
we alone recognize its devotional im- 
port. 

Glastonbury (Avalon) Somerset, 
England, has the support of many old 
chroniclers as the supposed repository 
of the sacred vessel. Its claims are 
indisputable to many of the students of 
the "Grail Cycle." But there have 
been various other places which have 
aspired to that distinction. 

Among the most interesting, perhaps, 
are the three cities of Genoa, Bruges 
and Aberystwith in Wales. The most 
interesting of the trio today is the 
claim of "Genoa la Superba," which 
looms so large on the international 
horizon. Diplomats and representa- 



496 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



tives of countries assembled there for 
the Peace conference will doubtless dis- 
dain even to visit the hallowed "Cam- 
po-Santo," with its arcades of monu- 
ments to the city's dead. 

For centuries Genoa has possessed 
an emerald vessel called "The Sacroca- 
tino, ' ' which they claimed to have orig- 
inally been a dish which contained the 
Paschal lamb eaten by Our Lord at 
the Last Supper. It has been called 
"The Palladium" of Genoa and is rev- 
ered today as much as in the early 
centuries. It reposes in the Cathedral 
of St Lawrence. Its name in Latin, 
"Gradalis" or "Gradotum," means a 
"dish used according to the rank of 
persons at table." This name has been 
the source of much confusion, in its 
corruption into Grallz, Graal and Grals 
and other variants. 

In 1797 an Augustinian friar (Fra- 
Gaetano) published an account of the 
dish as gathered from ancient archives 
of Genoa. Tradition claims, he says, 
that this beautiful dish was made of 
one pure gem of emerald. It was sup- 
posed to have been presented as a 
tribute to Solomon by the Queen of 
Sheba when she visited the wise man, 
coming up to see his riches and to hear 
his wisdom. It was thereafter pre- 
served by him solely for use at the 
Paschal sacrifice. It was later used 
solely for that purpose in the old dis- 
pensation, being sacredly guarded unto 
the time of Our Lord, when He, so the 
tradition says, inaugurated with it the 
new dispensation, by eating from it the 
true Paschal lamb. 

After the Crucifixion, the disciples 



who fled to Caesarea, knowing the im- 
pending doom of the Holy City, car- 
ried this dish with them for safety. It 
had been given them by Nicodemus 
and Joseph of Arimathea. This Joseph 
with pious avarice, guarded every relic 
of his Risen Lord. So in Caesarea, in 
safe-keeping it remained until the em- 
peror of Constantinople awarded it to 
the brave sons of Genoa as a reward 
of their prowess in the Crusades. So 
precious has it ever been considered 
that it was removed for safety during 
one of the conflicts of the Genoese, 
when their city was besieged by the 
Ghibellines. Napoleon so valued it that 
at his express command it was removed 
to Paris and kept there during the 
Italian troubles in 1808. The beautiful 
dish is 12 inches in diameter and 3 
inches deep. 

When the gallant Genoese returned 
to their city rejoicing with their sacred 
trophy of the emerald "Gradalis," a 
popular hero, called the Black Lion of 
Flanders, won a still more sacred guer- 
don on the soil of Palestine, in fact the 
highest gift within the giving of the 
Church — the San Grael, the Holy 
Grail. Among those who first responded 
to the Crusade's call was the noble 
Count Thierry of Flanders. Greater 
deeds were his than those of all the 
other knights on the fields of Palestine. 

Whereupon the Bishop of Jerusalem 
bestowed upon him the most precious 
gift within the power of the Church to 
bestow, viz : The Relic of the Blood of 
Jesus Christ. This supreme gift of the 
early Church was designed to become 




CATHEDRAL OF ST. LOUIS, 
St. Louis, Mo. 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 497 



the eternal possession of Flanders, his 
native land. 

This Holy Blood is said to have been 
the Blood of the Savior, shed at the 
pillar of the scourging, gathered there 
by one of the disciples, and then given 
to the mother of Jesus. When the 
Blessed Virgin left Jerusalem for Anti- 
och with John the Beloved, she be- 
queathed it to the First Church in the 
Holy City, which her Son had died to 
save. It had been preserved through 
all straits until the days of the Cru- 
sades. 

On the third of May takes place the 
annual procession of the Holy Blood 
through the streets of Bruges, with 
floral decorations, splendid music and 
appropriate ritual for the occasion. 
This annual custom has made the city 
one of the world spectacles of modern 
times, since the arrival in Bruges in 
1155 of the "Holy Blood" after a tri- 
umphal pilgrimage across Europe of 
two years' duration. It was contained 
in a Chasse which is adorned with 
priceless gems, votive offerings of the 
devout from Catholic monarchs, princes 
and subjects from the ends of the 
earth. Very touching stories are con- 
nected with the Chasse in which prom- 
inent persons are concerned, one being 
of Mary Stuart at the time of one of 
her pilgrimages to the shrine. Custody 
of the relic is never two days the same, 
and it is displayed but twice a week 
when soldiers of Belgium stand on 
either side as a national guard of honor. 

But twice since the arrival in Bruges 
in 1155 has the relic been withheld 
from public veneration on the ap- 



pointed days for such devotion. These 
dates were pending the wars of the 
Keformation and the Napoleonic wars. 

Let us hope it has fared no worse 
during the siege and occupation of 
Bruges in the late conflict. 

The Penitentes. 

A number of people whose practice 
of devotion was no doubt most sincere 
and regular became isolated in a small 
settlement in the south-western part of 
our country. There, cut off from as- 
sociation with the outside world, their 
minds turned upon religion and its 
practices — to extremes, sometimes. 

The world soon heard about it. Year 
after year some secular newspaper or 
other takes occasion, along about Holy 
Week, to print a sensational article or 
two regarding the scourgings and cru- 
cifixions practiced by Penitentes in New 
Mexico. The impression ordinarily 
created is that, while efforts are made 
to prevent these expressions of "super- 
stition" on the part of religious fana- 
tics, such efforts are successful only in 
a small way, and that the "Hermanos 
Penitentes" (the Penitent Brothers) 
continue their practices in a large num- 
ber of places, taking precaution, how- 
ever, to conceal their doings from the 
eyes of the authorities. In 1922 The 
Houston Chronicle reported in its is- 
sue of April 15, under the heading: 
"Los Hermanos Penitentes Spend Day 
Lashing Each Other and Man 
Stretched Upon Cross With Cactus 
Thorn Whips," that: "In four coun- 
ties of New Mexico and the eastern 
part of Arizona scores of members of 
Los Hermanos Penitentes are picking 



498 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



cactus spines from their own and each 
others backs." This as the result of 
the scourgings indulged in, "the bars 
having been somewhat let down" this 
year, thus permitting a more general 
observance of the Good Friday practice 
of flagellation and crucifixion. Ac- 
cording to the same source there was a 
crucifixion at a place only a short dis- 
tance from Albuquerque, while the in- 
sinuation is made that this part of the 
ceremonies had been carried out in 
numerous places in the "four coun- 
ties" also. 

A far fairer treatment of the prac- 
tices of the Penitentes, a report that 
has to do with one such occurrence, 
alleged to have taken place on Good 
Friday of 1922 near the village of Dix- 
on, N. M., is offered in the Sunday 
magazine of the St. Louis Post Dis- 
patch of May 7. Although the article 
is more objective and dignified than 
the one printed in the Houston paper, 
it nevertheless conveys the unmistak- 
able impression that scourgings and 
crucifixions are still fairly common in 
New Mexico among the Penitentes, and 
even states: "The astounding and 
shocking rites practised by this semi- 
pagan brotherhood . . . both the 
civil law and the edict of the Eoman 
Catholic Church seem powerless to pre- 
vent." 

As a matter of fact, the most ex- 
treme demonstrations of the Penitentes 
during Holy Week have been practical- 
ly prevented altogether and even the 
less extreme practices greatly reduced 
as to frequency. According to infor- 
mation obtained from a most reliable 



source by Mr. Theo. A. Thoma, editor 
of the Southwestern Catholic, of 
Santa Fe, at the request of the central 
bureau of the C. V., for the purpose 
of correcting the reports spread in the 
secular press, "the atrocities formerly 
practiced by this society are practical- 
ly abolished, as a result of the pressure 
exerted by the Church." According 
to the same sources, this was accom- 
plished largely "through the medium 
of circular letters addressed to the 
societies by Archbishops Salpointe 
and Pitaval. " So effective have the 
efforts of these Archbishops been that 
"Archbishop Daeger (the present 
Archbishop of Santa Fe) has not found 
it necessary during his administration 
to add further admonitions." 

"As a rule, the informant of the 
central bureau of the Central Verein, 
states — it is from this bureau's press 
statement that we supply facts — "the 
Penitentes now heed the counsel and 
the advice of their pastors. A Catholic 
pastor, who has probably more Peni- 
tentes in his parish than any other 
priest in New Mexico, says that he re- 
cently visited the 'morada' (meeting- 
house) of the society and asked that 
all who complied with the laws of the 
Church with reference to the Easter 
duty stand up, and that every man in 
the meeting arose. The same pastor 
on Good Friday last counseled his 
Penitentes against giving any public 
exhibition, pointing out to them that 
the reporters and 'artists' were observ- 
ing them and that their actions would 
bring reproach on the Church. They 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 499 



complied with his wishes and there was 
no demonstration." 

These facts surely prove that the in- 
fluence of the Church has been most 
fruitful in preventing, by an intellec- 
tual and religious appeal, abuses which 
the civil power alone would be unable 
to cope with. It were folly, however, 
to pretend, that these abuses do not 
continue in some places and in a miti- 
gated form. "Modified forms," the in- 
formant writes, "of flagellation and 
crucifixion are still carried on in cer- 
tain parts of New Mexico. A reliable 
Catholic observer saw a crucifixion at 
Abique on Good Friday. The young 
man remanied twenty-two minutes 
tied to the cross before fainting. He 
was then quickly taken down. The 
spectators were allowed to see the 
crucifixion at a distance of about 100 
yards and were forbidden to use cam- 
eras." 

In the light of these statements the 
reports printed in some secular papers 
on the prevalence and the present day 
practices of the Penitentes seem more 
than merely overdrawn. Sad to state, 
however, that will not prevent the re- 
currence of such stories in print in the 
years to come. 

Stigmata. 

The case of Mary Reilly, said to be 
a postulant at St. Germain's Villa, 
Peekskill, N. Y., convent of the Sisters 
of the Good Shepherd, where she is 
supposed to be under constant obser- 
vation to establish whether she is a 
true stigmatic, has created widespread 
interest, according to press reports. 
Miss Eeilly, it is said, has a stigma, in 



the form of a cross on her right side 
and she is reported as suffering con- 
siderably. 

The story, appearing in Chicago pa- 
pers created a sudden interest in the 
stigma among New "World readers. Its 
editor endeavored to answer his many 
correspondents in this article. 

No information, of course, can be ob- 
tained concerning the case in Peekskill. 
Our observations are quite apart from 
its consideration. For readers who in- 
quire about the stigmata and its mean- 
ing the following is offered, largely 
taken from the Catholic Encyclopedia : 

' ' History tells us that many ecstatics 
bear on hands, feet, side or brow, the 
marks of the Passion of Christ with 
corresponding and intense sufferings. 
These are called visible stigmata. 
Others only have the sufferings, with- 
out any visible stigmata. Their ex- 
istence is so well established histori- 
cally that, as a general thing, they 
are no longer disputed by unbelievers, 
who now seek only to explain them 
naturally. Thus a free thinking 
physician, Dr. Dumas, professor of re- 
ligious psychology, at the Sorbonne, 
clearly admits the facts in a review 
May 1, 1907, as does also Dr. Pierre 
Janet, in a bulletin of July, 1901. 

"St. Catherine of Siena at first had 
visible stigmata, but through humility 
she asked that they might be made 
invisible, and her prayer was heard. 
This was also the case with St. Cath- 
erine de Ricci, a Florentine Domini- 
can of the 16th century, and with 
several other stigmatics. 

"The sufferings may be considered 



500 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



the essential part of visible stigmata; 
the substance of this grace consists in 
pity for Christ, participation in His 
sufferings, sorrows and for the same 
end — the expiation of the sins, unceas- 
ingly committed in the world. If the 
sufferings were absent, the wounds 
would be an empty symbol, conducive 
to pride. If the stigmata really come 
from God it would be unworthy of His 
wisdom, to participate in such futility, 
and to do so by a miracle. 

Stigmata — A Trial. 

This trial is far from being the only 
one which the Saints have to endure : 
"The life of stigmatics, " says Dr. Im- 
bert, "is but a long series of sorrows 
which arise from the Divine malady of 
the stigmata and end only at death." 
It seems historically certain that ec- 
statics alone bear the stigmata; more- 
over, they have visions which corres- 
pond to their role of co-sufferers, be- 
holding from time to time the blood- 
stained scenes of the Passion. 

With many stigmatics these appari- 
tions were periodical ; such as St. Cath- 
erine de Ricci, whose ecstasies of the 
Passion began when she was twenty 
years old and for twelve years they 
recurred with minute regularity, last- 
ing twenty-eight hours, the only in- 
terruption being when the Saint re- 
ceived Holy Communion. On coming 
out of the ecstasy her limbs were cov- 
ered with wounds, as produced by 
whips, cords, etc. 



Stigmata of St. Francis. 

No stigmatics were known prior to 
the thirteenth century. The first men- 
tioned is St. Francis of Assisi, in 
whom the stigmata were of a character 
never seen since ; in the wounds of feet 
and hands were enormous abundances 
of flesh representing nails, those on one 
side having round black heads, those 
on the other having rather long points, 
which bent back and grasped the skin. 

Among Franciscan Tertiaries was 
Marie de Moerl, who spent her life at 
Kaltern Tyrol, 1812-68. At the age of 
twenty she became an ecstatic, and this 
was her habitual condition for the re- 
maining thirty-five years of her life. 
She emerged from it only at the com- 
mand of her director and to attend to 
the affairs of her house. 

Three circumstances connected with 
stigmata have never been explained by 
those who would cast doubts upon it. 
1. Physicians do not succeed in curing 
these wounds with remedies; 2. Unlike 
natural wounds of long duration, these 
with one exception, St. Rita of Cascia, 
have given out no feted odor ; 3. Some- 
times these wounds give forth per- 
fumes as in the case of Juliana of the 
Cross. 

In later years the patients have been 
given close observation. Every op- 
portunity for examination was ac- 
corded medical men. Dr. Imbert 
counts 321 cases in which there is rea- 
son to believe in Divine action, twenty- 
nine were in the nineteenth century. 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 501 

Stories of Our Lady's Feasts 



The many forms which devotion 
takes when directed toward Our 
Blessed Lady cannot, of course, ade- 
quately be enumerated. The piinei- 
pal feasts are so intimately connected 
with the story of religion itself and 
are so well known, being treated else- 
where in this volume, that we do not 
give them place in this consideration. 
Rather is it our purpose to give pub- 
licity to some of the feasts, not so 
well known, yet eminently beautiful 
in the stories unfolded. They appear 
in the order of celebration through the 
year. 

The Espousals. 

The marriage of Our Lady, Mary 
Immaculate (which is celebrated on 
January 23 under the title of "The 
Espousals of the Blessed Virgin") was 
not a marriage in the usual meaning 
of the word. Mary had made a vow 
of virginity as a child and was not 
willing to disregard that vow, feeling 
that she was truly consecrated to God 
and to His service. Therefore, ac- 
cording to the Church's tradition, she 
refused all suitors — of whom there 
were several, so graciously beautiful 
was she in her matchless purity, mod- 
esty and humility — and did not con- 
sent to marry Saint Joseph, who was 
an elderly man belonging, as she be- 
longed, to the royal family of David 
by descent, until he assured her that 
her vow of virginity would be re- 



spected, that he meant to be her 
father and guardian rather than her 
husband. With this understanding, 
she, who was destined to be the 
Mother of God Incarnate, went 
through the Jewish marriage cere- 
mony with the man destined to be the 
foster-father of Jesus and the patron 
of Jesus' Universal Church. And so 
it came that Mary conceived without 
sin; Mary, the Mother of God, is also 
entitled to be called Mary, the Ever- 
Virgin. 

This festival of the Espousals has 
been celebrated in the Church since 
the fifteenth century. Nearly five 
hundred years ago the feast was in- 
troduced in Chartres, France, through 
the agency of a pious priest who was 
tenderly devout to Our Blessed Lady 
and her chaste spouse, Saint Joseph. 
The Venerable Gerson composed the 
prayers appropriate to the occasion. 
From the diocese of Chartres the cele- 
bration spread everywhere — Pope 
Benedict XIII having extended the 
privilege to the Universal Church. 

In the cathedral of Perugia, Itaty, 
where there is a beautiful chapel dedi- 
cated to the mystery of Our Lady ; s 
Espousals, the celebration of the feast 
is one of great pomp and glory. Here 
once a year is exhibited to the venera- 
tion of the faithful what a pious tra- 
dition declares to be the bridal ring 
used at the wedding of Our Blessed 
Lady and Saint Joseph. It is made 



502 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



not of metal, but of a stone called 
onyx. This ring, the tradition says, 
was entrusted by Mary to Saint Jo- 
seph at the time of her death, and by 
him was brought to Rome, whence it 
eventually came to Perugia. This, of 
course, is only a pious belief, not an 
article of faith by any means. 

Our Lady of the Pillar. 

February the fourth is the feast day 
of Our Lady of the Pillar. Nuestra 
Senora del Pilar, which means Our 
Lady of the Pillar, is the name of one 
of the world's most famous churches, 
dedicated to the Immaculate Mother 
of God. It stands at Saragossa, in 
that province of Spain known as Ara- 
gon. In this church Most Holy Mary 
has chosen to manifest Her tender 
mercy by means of many miracles. 
Wherefore Catholic Spaniards are 
very devout to Our Lady of the Pillar, 
so much so that thousands of the 
daughters of Spain are joyfully proud 
of bearing the name of Maria del 
Pilar, or even Pilar, for short, and 
that year in, year out pilgrims resort 
to the Saragossa Sanctuary there to 
honor the Queen of Heaven and to ask 
favors at Her hands. 

The great miracle which pre-emi- 
nently helped to gain a worldwide 
fame for the Church of Our Lady of 
the Pillar took place in 1641. It is a 
highly authenticated miracle, having 
been witnessed by a considerable num- 
ber of persons. 

Follows a brief account of it : 

A young man of nineteen (in 1638) 
named Miguel Juan Pellicer, who lived 
in the small town of Calanda, Aragon, 



fell from a wagon and broke his right 
leg. He was taken to Saragossa; 
where a distinguished surgeon found 
it necessary to amputate the injured 
leg. When the amputation had been 
accomplished, young Pellicer, who 
dearly loved and constantly prayed 
Our Lady of the Pillar, visited her 
shrine and consecrated his life to her 
service ; and, later on, each time he 
suffered pain in the stump of his am- 
putated limb he would go to the 
church dedicated to her and anoint 
the stump with oil from a lamp burn- 
ing at her feet. This he did continu- 
ously for two years. Then, in 1640, 
he returned to his native town of Ca- 
landa, where he remained a true clien' 
of Mary under her Saragossa title in 
his life actions, speech and devotions. 
And there, on March 29, 1641, after a 
hard day's labor, he went to bed — 
having hung up his wooden leg near 
the fire — and to sleep. A dream came 
to him. Vividly, he dreamt that he 
was in the Church of Our Lady of the 
Pillar, praying for Mary's help and 
anointing his stump with oil from the 
altar lamp. From his dream he was 
awakened by his mother and father, 
who had come into his room and 
found, to their indescribable astonish- 
ment, that their son once more had 
two sound legs, instead of a real leg 
and a wooden one. Our Lady of the 
Pillar had rewarded his faith and his 
love. 

The news of the miracle spread 
rapidly. Crowds of the inhabitants of 
Calanda came to wonder at the mirac- 
ulous cure — or restitution, rather — 
and to give thanks to the most merci- 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 503 



ful Mother of God. Young Pellicer 
was conducted to Saragossa and ex- 
amined by a judicial commissioa. 
After a thorough investigation and 
the hearing of hundreds of witnesses, 
the Most Reverend Pedro Apaolara. 
Archbishop of Saragossa, pronounced 
the experience of Miguel Juan Pelli- 
cer a true miracle of Mary's mercy. 

As has been said at the beginning of 
these lines, many other proofs of her 
gracious love for suffering humanity 
have been given by Mary Immaculate, 
Our Lady of the Pillar, in her Sanctu- 
ary at Saragossa. And that is why 
the devout Catholic of Spain ad- 
dresses himself to Our Lady of the 
Pillar with all the childlike love and 
trust which the French Catho T 
shows Our Lady of Lourdes, or th^ 
Mexican Catholic offers Our Lady of 
Guadalupe. It may be added also 
that the very title of Our Lady of the 
Pillar should remind all Catholics of 
constant recourse to Mary for the 
special intention that she may help us 
always to keep our faith as firm as a 
pillar of granite. 

Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows. 

Devotion to the sorrows of th<> 
Blessed Virgin Mother — the seven 
chief occasions of Mary's sorrow 
being the prophecy of Simeon — that 
a sword should pierce her heart; the 
flight into Egypt ; the loss of the Child 
Jesus for three days; Mary's meeting 
with Our Lord when He bore the 
Cross; the Mother's presence at the 
Crucifixion and death of the Son ; the 
time when Jesus' sacred body was 
placed in Mary's arms after His death, 



and the burial of Jesus — is undoubt- 
edly of ancient standing, since the 
Order of the Servites of Mary, an 
order especially consecrated to Our 
Lady and to the honoring of her sor- 
rows, was founded in Florence, Italy, 
as early as 1233. 

But the first Feast of Our Lady of 
the Seven Dolors (or Sorrows) was 
not extended to the whole Church be- 
fore 1727, although it had been cele- 
brated in various places and on var- 
ious dates for three hundred years. 
And the second Feast, primarily grant- 
ed to the Servite Order in 1688, was 
made a Feast of the Universal Church 
in 1814 by a decree of Pope Pius VII. 
This second celebration is due to the 
idea that as the first Feast's date is 
the Friday after Passion Sunday, and 
as the Church at that time is too deep- 
ly occupied with the supreme mystery 
of the Redemption to give sufficient 
attention to the Sorrows of Mary, an- 
other Feast seemed necessary for the 
proper exercise of devotion to Our 
Lady in her woes.. Wherefore the 
date of this second Feast was set for 
the third Sunday in September. 

There can be no doubt as to the 
deep spiritual value of these two 
Feasts which show us with what pa- 
tience, resignation and submission to 
God's will Our Blessed Lady bore the 
greatest sorrows ever put upon a hu- 
man being, and therefore invite us to 
look to Mary for instruction, guidance 
and help whenever we are visited with 
affliction of any kind. 

Our Lady of Good Counsel. 

Every Catholic knows that the 
Blessed Virgin Mother of God is often 



504 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



invoked under the beautiful title of 
' ' Our Lady of Good Counsel, ' ' the late 
Pope Leo XIII having ordered the in- 
sertion of the words, "Mother of Good 
Counsel, pray for us," in the Litany of 
Loretto. And every Catholic pos- 
sesses, or, at least, has seen, a copy of 
the celebrated picture of Our Lady of 
Good Counsel. But not every Catho- 
lic has read the legend which tells of 
that picture, and on which rests the 
devotion (that of the Pious Union of 
Genezzano) to Our Blessed Lady 
under this special title. 

Be it said at the outset that this 
legend, beautiful as it is, cannot be 
called an article of faith — has no im- 
perative claim on our belief. There 
is little historical evidence for it, but 
it is useful nevertheless, as well as 
gracious and poetical, because it 
serves to illustrate both the power of 
Mary Immaculate and her motherly 
love and mercy for mankind. 

Follows the legend: 

During the afternoon of April 25, 
1467, the inhabitants of the little town 
of Genezzano, in Italy, heard celestial 
music — music that seemed to descend 
from the cloudless heavens. And then 
they saw a snow-white cloud, high 
above the town's highest houses, from 
which cloud shone forth rays of the 
most dazzling light. The cloud came 
nearer gradually, and finally rested 
on the wall of a ruined chapel — the 
bells of the chapel's tower ringing 
out although it was apparent that 
no human hand had set them in mo- 
tion, and every church bell in the town 
sounded as if in answer. Little by 
little the cloud cleared away, and 



where it had been now stood an image 
of Our Blessed Lady, smiling on the 
Divine Child in Her arms. 

The villagers of Genezzano could 
not but think that the image had come 
from Heaven itself. It had come from 
Albania, across the Adriatic Sea, how- 
ever. 

There, in the town of Scutari, this 
image of Our Lady — known then as 
the "Madonna of Scutari" — had mir- 
aculously appeared some two centur- 
ies before, and had been greatly ven- 
erated. For instance, the great Al- 
banian, General Scanderbeg, openly 
declared that his victories over the 
Moslems were due to the Madonna of 
Scutari. When he died, the Moslems 
again threatened the country, and 
many Albanians sought safety in 
flight. Among them were two pious 
clients of Mary, Georgio and Sclavios 
by name, who went to visit their be- 
loved Madonna just before their de- 
parture. As they knelt at Our Lady's 
shrine, they were astounded to see the 
image loosen itself from the wall, 
and, enveloped in a shining cloud, 
float out of the Church toward the sea. 
They followed. The image floated on 
over the sea, and the pious men 
stepped into the water and were borne 
up, without even trying to swim, till 
they reached the Italian shore. Ou 
land, they still followed the picture 
to the very gates of Rome, where the 
image disappeared. Nor did they see 
it again, until, having heard of its 
miraculous advent in Genezzano, they 
found it there, already rich in renown 
on account of the miracles wrought 
by its means, in the Augustinian 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 



505 



Church where it still hangs today (its 
coloring not in the least tarnished or 
faded, by the way). 

In 1862, the miraculous image was 
crowned, and the title of "Our Lady 
of Good Counsel" also dates back to 
the seventeenth century. From the 
time of the image's coming until this 
very day hundreds upon hundreds of 
miraculous cures and conversions 
have taken place at the shrine of Our 
Lady of Good Counsel, in Genezzano. 
Many indulgences are attached to 
membership in the sodality of Our 
Lady of Good Counsel, generally 
known as "The Pious Union." 
Our Lady Help of Christians. 

The feast of Our Lady Help or 
Christians, celebrated on May 24, 
commemorates several great historical 
events. When Saint Pius V was Pope 
the Turks threatened to conquer all 
Christendom. The Holy Father, who 
was very devout to the Blessed 
Mother of God, directed all the faith- 
ful to offer prayers to Most Holy 
Mary for her help in the fearful 
struggle. And it was while the 
saintly Pontiff and the members of 
the Roman Confraternity of the Holy 
Rosary were in prayer at Mary's altar 
that, on the seventh day of October, 
1571, John of Austria, who command- 
ed the Christian fleet, gloriously de- 
feated the heathen, in the battle of 
Lepanto. In fervent thanks for 
Mary's help, so wondrously and gen- 
erously given, Pius V added to the Lit- 
any of Loretto the invocation. "Help 
of Christians, pray for us." 

A century later the Turks made 
another terrific effort to subdue the 



Christian world. They had succeed- 
ed so far as to besiege Vienna with an 
immense army, when on the eve of 
Our Lady's Nativity, September 7, 
1683, the inhabitants of Vienna placed 
themselves under the protection of the 
Merciful Queen of Heaven. The very 
next day John Sobieski, the warrior 
King of Poland, arrived with twenty 
thousand soldiers, and after conse- 
crating himself and his force to Mary, 
gave battle and in a few hours admin- 
istered a crushing defeat to the Turks, 
who fled, never to return. In com- 
memoration of this new proof of 
Mary's untiring helpfulness, Pope In- 
nocent XI extended to the whole 
Church the feast of the Holy Name of 
Mary. 

Finally, the Feast of Our Lady Help 
of Christians was instituted Decem- 
ber 16, 1815, at the instance of Pope 
Puis VII, who had triumphantly re- 
entered Rome on May 24, 1814, after 
six years of captivity in France, and 
of exile in Savona — where Napoleon 
sought to bend him to his tyrannical 
will. But the despot fell, and the 
Holy Father was able to return to his 
city. As Pius VII had constantly 
during his captivity implored Our 
Blessed Lady to help him, he rightly 
attributed his unexpected triumph to 
Mary's protection and intercession, 
and in his gratitude he decreed that 
the day of his return should be kept 
as the Feast of Mary Help of Chris- 
tians. The feast was extended to the 
Universal Church shortly after its 
institution. 

There can be no doubt that the 
three instances of Mary's gracious 



506 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



help to all of Christendom briefly 

related hereabove should cause every 
Catholic not only to celebrate the 
twenty-fourth day of May with grate- 
ful devotion, but also to invoke very 
frequently throughout the year, with 
all his heart and soul, Our Lady Help 
of Christians. 

Our Lady of the Wayside. 

The Feast of Our Lady of the Way- 
side is celebrated on the second Sun- 
day in June — the veneration of the 
Most Holy Mother of God under this 
particular title dating back not a few 
centuries. 

Painted on the wall of an ancient 
house in the central part of Rome, 
near the main road to the capitol, 
was to be seen — as early as, if not 
earlier than, the fourteenth century — 
a picture of Our Blessed Lady holding 
Her Divine Son in Her arms. About 
this painting was built, in the four- 
teenth century, a little church known 
then and later on as "Santa Maria 
della Strada, " which means "Holy 
Mary of the Street," or "of the Way- 
side." 

This little church greatly attracted 
Saint Ignatius of Loyola, the founder 
of the Jesuit Order, when he came to 
Rome, in 1558, and he passed many 
hours in prayer before the ancient 
painting of the Queen of Queens, 
whom he loved and served so well. 
He desired to obtain the church for 
his society, and he did obtain it in 
1541. 

Some thirty years later, the Church 
was found entirely too small to ac- 



commodate the crowds that sought 
the shrine of Our Lady of the Gesu, 
which to this day stands one of the 
most beautiful churches in Rome. The 
Madonna della Strada was placed in 
a richly decorated chapel of the new 
edifice. And here the faithful came 
in pious multitudes, and their loving 
trust in Our Lady of the Wayside was 
regarded by numerous miraculous 
favors. The blessed image was 
crowned in 1638, and again in 1885 
on the occasion of the celebration of 
the third centenary of the day when 
it was placed in the chapel of the 
Gesu. 

There is a peculiar and a deeply 
Catholic sweetness and tenderness in 
the title of "Our Lady of the Way- 
side," a title which suggests to our 
heart the happy truth that, we cannot 
fail to be graciously and lastingly 
benefited if only we shall make fre- 
quent visits to the Sinless Mother r> 
God, to Our Lady of the Wayside, as 
we proceed along the way of life. 

The Most Pure Heart of Mary. 

At the close of a mission given in 
the Cathedral of Autun, France, in 
1648, occurred the first public act in 
honor of the Most Pure Heart of 
Mary. The Rev. Father Eudes Ma- 
zerai, who established the Society of 
Jesus and Mary, popularly known as 
the Eudists, interested himself very 
devoutly in the promotion of the Ven- 
eration of the Immaculate Heart of 
Our Blessed Lady, and through his 
efforts a Feast of the Sacred Heart. ^ 
Mary was celebrated for the first time 
on February 8, 1868, by permission of 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 507 



the papal legate, Cardinal de Ven- 
dome. 

Thereafter, the Fathers Minor of 
France and Father de Gallifet, S. J., 
labored earnestly to bring about the 
official recognition of the Feast of the 
Heart of Mary, and Pope Pius VII 
finally granted the Order of the 
Clerks Regular of the Mother of God 
such a feast — the feast being cele- 
brated in nearly every part of the 
Catholic world before long. This 
feast is kept on several dates, and 
more especially either on the third 
Sunday after Pentecost or on the Sun- 
day after the Octave of the Assump- 
tion. 

One of the most famous churches on 
earth is placed under the patronage of 
the Immaculate Heart of Mary. This 
is the miraculous Church of Our Lady 
of Victories in Paris. It was a very 
poor and obscure church when, in 
1836, its rector, the Abbe Desgen- 
ettes, consecrated his parish to the 
Heart of Mary and founded the Arch- 
confraternity of the Immaculate 
Heart of Mary for the Conversion of 
Sinners. But almost instantaneously 
after he had taken such action a 
quantity of miraculous conversions 
and cures attributable to the Heart of 
Mary and obtained by recourse to 
that Immaculate Heart at Our Lady's 
shrine in the Church of Our Lady of 
Victories caused the parish to become 
exceedingly pious and prosperous, 
and eventually caused the new Arch- 
confraternity to become an universal 
institution with more than twenty 



thousand affiliated confraternities and 
millions of members. 

The Church of Our Lady of Vic- 
tories is, therefore, one of the sanc- 
tuaries which every Catholic who 
comes to the capital city of France is 
sure to visit and to love. 

Our Lady of Perpetual Succor. 

Among the many loving titles given 
to the Ever-Immaculate and Ever- 
Gracious Mother of God, the title ©f 
"Our Lady of Perpetual Succor" 
undoubtedly ranks high, because it 
expresses so fully and yet simply a 
glorious fact which every Catholic 
cherishes in his heart and mind — -the 
fact that, as the "Memorare" says, 
Mary is never invoked in vain, that 
she is sure to help at all times, unfail- 
ingly, every soul and all souls ad- 
dressing themselves to her with sin- 
cere confidence and love. 

It is as Our Lady of Perpetual Suc- 
cor that Our Blessed Lady is vene- 
rated in the Redemptorist Church of 
Saint Alphonsus in Rome, where may 
be seen the miraculous picture before 
which clients of Mary have knelt for 
hundreds of years to ask and obtain 
favors, help and mercy. 

This picture is a very ancient one, 
since it is believed that it was painted 
as far back as the thirteenth century 
by a Greek artist. It was brought to 
Rome by a merchant from Crete in the 
fifteenth century and was then placed 
in the Augustinian Church of Saint 
Matthew on the street known as the 
Via Merulana. During the three hun- 
dred years that it remained there, so 
many miracles were granted at this 



508 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



shrine that the picture was popularly 
called "The Very Miraculous Image." 

In 1812, when the French, under 
Napoleon, occupied Rome, the Church 
of Saint Matthew was razed, but the 
picture was wondrously saved and lay 
in an abandoned and ruined chapel. 
Forty-two years later the Redemptor- 
ist Fathers built a church on the site 
of the old Church of Saint Matthew. 
Then, in 1863, a Jesuit Father, preach- 
ing at the Gesu on devotion to the 
Blessed Virgin Mother, spoke of this 
almost forgotten picture and said that 
Most Holy Mary wished to see it vene- 
rated again. 

The suggestion was acted on by the 
Redemptorists, who petitioned Pius 
IX, of pious memory, for possession of 
the picture, and who, when their pe- 
tition had been granted, exposed the 
picture for veneration in their Church 
of Saint Alphonsus. Within a few 
years the new shrine of Our Lady of 
Perpetual Succor was once more 
widely known as one of the holy spots 
where Our Blessed Lady bestows on 
suffering humanity her miraculous 
gifts of merciful help. 

And it is such a spot today. Devo- 
tion to Our Lady of Perpetual Suc- 
cor has spread throughout the Cath- 
olic world, and a copy of the Miracu- 
lous Image may be seen in almost 
every Catholic household. The Feast 
of Our Lady of Perpetual Succor is 
celebrated on June 24. 

Our Lady of Mount Carmel. 

The Feast of Our Lady of Mount 
Carmel has been a feast of the Uni- 
versal Church for nearly two centur- 



ies, but it was kept by the Carmelite 
Order — which has always been espe- 
cially dedicated to the Mother of God 
— as early as 1387. It is celebrated 
on July the sixteenth. And the de- 
votion of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 
generally known as the devotion of 
the Holy Scapular, has for centuries 
been practiced by almost every Cath- 
olic truly alive to the Faith, and is 
now flourishing in every part of the 
Catholic world. 

From the East, where it originated, 
the Carmelite Order spread to France 
in the middle of the thirteenth cen- 
tury, and thence some Carmelite 
Fathers went to England, where they 
established their order and where it 
grew exceedingly — so much so, in- 
deed, that an English Carmelite, Saint 
Simon Stock, became the sixth Latin 
(i. e. Western) General of the Order 
of Carmelites. 

During this General's term of office 
came a time of great trouble and trial 
for the Carmelites and for true Chris- 
tians generally in England. And the 
pious General naturally turned to the 
Blessed Patroness of his order and of 
all Christendom for help in this ad- 
versity. 

While he was praying to Our Blessed 
Lady with all the fervor of his de- 
vout heart and soul, the Queen of 
Heaven rewarded his trust by appear- 
ing to him and giving him a Scapular 
(the first of the Scapulars known as 
"brown," or Mount Carmel Scapu- 
lars), telling him that the Scapular 
was "the mark of her confraternity, 
a sign of salvation, and a treaty of 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 509 



peace and alliance to last for all 
time." 

Almost immediately after this rev- 
elation the devotion of the "brown 
Scapular" became an universal one. 
Devout Christians in all Christian 
lands asked to be clad in the livery 
of Our Lady — kings and peasants 
alike. And many miraculous favors 
granted to the faithful wearers of the 
Scapular attested unmistakable the 
great value of the blessed practice. 

Today the Confraternity of the 
Scapular of Mount Carmel numbers 
among its members a big majority of 
all practical Catholics. 

Let it be added that Holy Church 
has attached an extraordinary num- 
ber of indulgences — plenary and par- 
tial — to this devotion. 

Our Lady of the Angels. 

It is a very ancient shrine, that of 
Our Lady of the Angels, near Assisi, 
in Italy. During the thirteenth cen- 
tury a holy priest who was its chap- 
lain, ceded it to Saint Francis of As- 
sisi, that great Saint who rightly re- 
garded religion as the joy of life, to 
be practised cheerfully, smilingly, 
happily, and in whose exercise faitn, 
hope and charity were always insep- 
arably entwined. 

Saint Francis had just established 
his order, which ever since, remaining 
truly faithful to the spirit of its 
founder, has done so much for God 
and man as to make the name of Fran- 
ciscan admired and loved in every 
Catholic country, and in not a few re- 
gions of the heathen. 

No sooner was the Saint in posses- 
sion of the chapel that, having de- 



cided to pass the night therein with 
the intention of placing his young 
order under the patronage of the Vir- 
gin Mother, he beheld the chapel filled 
with a heavenly light and was priv- 
ileged to look upon our Savior Him- 
self, accompanied by His Mother and 
an escort of Angels ! 

And, later on, Saint Francis re- 
ceived many graces from Heaven in 
this chapel of the King of Heaven's 
Mother. There he found again and 
again the inspiration needed to fur- 
ther his holy and glorious work, and 
there he obtained of God, through Our 
Lady's intercession, the plenary indul- 
gences known as the Portiuncula. 

From Saint Francis' day to this the 
ancient Chapel of Our Lady of the 
Angels has been the objective point 
of thousands upon thousands of pious 
pilgrims, and countless miracles — 
conversions, cures, instances of help 
in need — have evidenced the fact that 
devotion to Her as Our Lady of the 
Angels is very acceptable to Most 
Holy Mary. 

By force of a decree of the Sacred 
Congregation of Rites of June 10, 
1690, the three orders of Saint Fran- 
cis are authorized to celebrate, on Au- 
gust the second, the Feast of Our 
Lady of the Angels as their principal 
patroness ; but the faithful outside of 
the three orders of Saint Francis are 
directed to commemorate Our Lady 
under this particular title on her Feast 
of the Assumption — August 15. 

Be it suggested to Catholic parents 
that they can do no better than to 
instill in the minds and hearts of their 
young children a loving devotion for 



510 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



the Blessed Mother in Her beautiful 
capacity of Our Lady of the Angels. 

Our Lady of the Snows. 

A very beautiful legend, or pious 
belief though we are by no means obli- 
gated by Holy Church to believe it as 
a matter of faith, is the story of the 
miraculous foundation of the Church 
of Saint Mary Major in Rome, the 
dedication of which church — as the 
principal, if not the most ancient, of 
the Roman churches raised in honor 
of Our Blessed Lady — we celebrate on 
August 5, the feast day of Our Lady 
of the Snows. 

This legend relates that in the mid- 
dle of the fourth century, during the 
reign of the Emperor Constantius, a 
Roman patrician named Johannes 
(John) and his wife, desired to de- 
vote their large fortune to the glory 
of the Holy Mother of God, to whom 
both were lovingly devout. This 
pious couple had no children, and no 
near kinsfolk — wherefore Johannes 
and his wife could surely so manifest 
their love of Mary Immaculate with- 
out prejudicing the rightful interests 
of any one. 

Having made this resolution, the 
two earnestly prayed the Blessed Vir- 
gin to let them know how she wished 
them to use the wealth consecrated to 
her. In answer to their prayers the 
Virgin Mother deigned to appear to 
each of them — in separate dreams — on 
the night of the fifth day of August, 
and declared to them that her Son 
and herself directed them to use their 
fortune for the purpose of erecting a 
church in her honor on Mount Esqui- 



line, and that on this Roman moun- 
tain, or hill, they should discover not 
only the site but also the plan of the 
church, traced out on a space which 
would be covered with snow. 

They made their dream known to 
each other and to some of the clergy, 
so that besides Johannes and his wife, 
several priests and friends went to 
Mount Esquiline — to find a large 
space covered with snow, though Au- 
gust in Rome is a month of great heat. 
And the church was speedily built, 
in accordance with the ground-plan 
marked by the snow. 

As has been said above, we Catho- 
lics are not obliged to accept this 
pious belief as an article of faith. 
Nevertheless, there is no reason why 
we should not believe it, since by the 
will of her Divine Son, Our Blessed 
Lady has ever been active in the per- 
formance of miracles of tender help- 
fulness and piety, and since the purity 
of white, untrodden snow on a moun- 
tain's summit is strikingly emblem- 
atic of the Ever- Virgin 's freedom from 
all taint or stain of sin. 

Our Lady of Kevelaer. 

The village of Kevelaer, or Kevlaar, 
in the Rhine country of Germany, may 
be called one of Our Lady's own home- 
steads upon earth. Since the year 
1612, its miraculous image of Mary 
has attracted as many as six hundred 
thousand clients and petitions of God's 
Vigin-Mother, every twelvemonth. Not 
only from the Catholic parts of Ger- 
many, but from Holland, too, have all 
these pilgrims come to call on Mary's 
mercy at a shrine where that mercy 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 511 



of hers stands amply proven through 
many miracles — cures of the body and 
the soul. And they have been coming 
in the nineteenth and twentieth cen- 
turies in no smaller numbers and with 
no smaller faith than they came three 
hundred years ago. How great and 
how widely spread is devotion to Our 
Lady of Kevelaer appears in a fault- 
less Catholic poem in the translation of 
H. R. R. Hertzberg, who, far from be- 
ing a Catholic, was a Jew by blood and 
an unbeliever by profession, Heinrich 
Heine. 

Our Lady of Martyrs. 

A famous shrine of Our Blessed 
Lady, situated within the borders of 
these United States, is that of Our 
Lady of Martyrs in Auriesville, New 
York, some forty miles from Albany on 
the western bank of the Mohawk River. 

It has been erected on the spot where 
Father Isaac Jogues, S. J., one of the 
great earlier Jesuit missionaries among 
the North American Indians, with his 
companions, Brother Rene Goupil, S. 
J., and Brother Lalande, S. J., and 
other Christians died the martyr's 
death for the Faith. Where, also, 
Father Bresciani, S. J., was horribly 
tortured by the Indians, and where 
devoted Jesuit missionaries did their 
best and bravest for the greater glory 
of God until the year 1684 which wit- 
nessed the destruction of the Mission. 
And the spot stands, furthermore, dis- 
tinguished through the fact that there 
was born the "Lily of the Mohawks," 
Catherine Teghaktwtka, a saintly In- 
dian maiden whose spotless purity of 
life was made possible by her fervently 
constant devotion to Mary Immaculate, 



the cause of whose beatification has 
been introduced at Rome. The site of 
the shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs 
was bought in the year 1844, and dur- 
ing that same year the purchaser, the 
Rev. Joseph Loyzance, S. J., guided 
there the first troop of pilgrims. Since 
then our Lady of Martyrs has at- 
tracted thousands upon thousands of 
devout visitors from every part of the 
United States and also from foreign 
countries. 

Our Lady of Lujan. 

Some twelve leagues from the great 
city of Buenos Aires, in the Argentine 
Republic, stands the shrine of Our 
Lady of Lujan, (pronounced Looh-han, 
in default of the guttural sound which 
must be given the j, if we wish to pro- 
nounce the word quite correctly.) 

This sanctuary of Our Lady dis- 
putes the claim made by the great 
church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 
Mexico, to the distinction of ranking 
first among the New World's shrines 
dedicated to Mary. And there is no 
denying either of the two facts that 
the Basilica of Lujan, blessed in the 
year 1910, is indeed a splendidly beau- 
tiful church and that a very great 
number of miracles — cures and con- 
versions — have been wrought at the 
Argentinian shrine since its establish- 
ment. 

Lujan 's miraculous image is a clay 
statue of the Immaculate Conception, 
which, according to a seemingly well- 
authenticated tradition, came to the 
place in an extremely extraordinary 
manner. It was being transported, 
safely boxed, as well as another statue 



512 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



of the Madonna, in a wagon drawn by 
oxen, during the year 1630, from Bra- 
zil to the home of a pious resident of 
Cordoba, a then flourishing town, when 
the oxen, having reached the spot 
which is now Lujan, stopped still and 
refused to go farther. The other 
statue of the Madonna was lifted from 
the cart, but the oxen persisted in their 
refusal. But, when the box containing 
the statue of the Immaculate Concep- 
tion was taken out of the wagon, the 
oxen moved on at once. Wherefore it 
was held that Our Blessed Lady wished 
the latter-named image to remain in 
Lujan, and an oratory was erected to 
shelter it. 

From the first, many pilgrims came 
to honor God's Immaculate Virgin- 
Mother at this provisional shrine which 
was replaced by a real church in 1677. 
Around the church grew the town of 
Lujan and, by means of the people's 
loving devotion to Our Lady, it grew 
so swiftly as a devotional centre that 
a new and much larger church had to 
be built in 1763. Finally, the year 
1910 saw the inauguration of the great 
basilica now housing the miraculous 
statue, which was solemnly crowned 
with a golden and richly jeweled crown 
blessed by Pope Leo XIII in 1887, 
amid the devout rejoicings of more 
than forty thousand loving subjects of 
the Queen of Heaven. 

Pilgrimages to Our Lady of Lujan 
are taking place constantly each year. 
A pilgrimage of the Irish Argentinians 
on St. Patrick 's day numbered not less 
than ten thousand participants. 

It may be said that Lujan is to Cath- 
olic South America (i. e., to very near- 



ly the whole of South America) what 
Lourdes is to Catholic Europe. 

Our Lady of Montserrat. 

The ancient sanctuary of Our 
Lady of Montserrat is one of the chief 
glories of Catholic Spain. Situated in 
the midst of the mountains of Cata- 
lonia, it is now in the custody of the 
monks of St. Benedict. Its existence 
as a shrine of Mary dates back to the 
tenth century, but it became especially 
famous — thanks to the miracles which 
took place there — three centuries later, 
and its present church was consecrated 
in the year 1562. Legends not lacking 
in beauty but by no means partaking 
of the nature of articles of faith tender 
various accounts of the origin of the 
miraculous image of Our Lady which 
is venerated at Montserrat. As a mat- 
ter of sober truth, however, it is held 
that this miraculous image, found dur- 
ing the early part of the tenth century 
in one of the mountain caves of Mont- 
serrat, had been placed there by devout 
Christians who wished to save it from 
destruction or desecration at the hands 
of the Mohammedan Moors overrun- 
ning the country at that time. 

An inscription on a tablet in the 
church apprises or reminds the visitor 
of the historical fact that Our Lady's 
shrine of Montserrat was the place 
where St. Ignatius Loyola, as a pilgrim 
at the outset of his change from the 
life of a soldier and worldling to that 
of a saintly servant of God, in 1522, 
passed a whole night, his "vigil in 
arms" in prayer before Our Lady's 
altar, placing his sword at her feet and 



HOLY NIGHT. 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 513 



vowing to be henceforth a soldier in the 
army of Jesus and Mary. 

From the thirteenth century on to 
the days of Charles V and his son 
Philip II, Montserrat witnessed an un- 
interrupted series of pilgrimages to 
which almost every country in Europe 
contributed great numbers of pilgrims. 
Nor has the shrine been deserted in 
later times. It continues to receive 
thousands and thousands of pious visi- 
tors each year to this day. 

Our Lady of Czenstochowa. 

On the slope of a hill not inappro- 
priately known as "the Mountain of 
Light," above the little manufacturing 
town of Czenstochowa, in Russian Po- 
land, stands the ancient chapel enshrin- 
ing a miraculous picture of Our Blessed 
Lady said to have been painted by St. 
Luke and frequently spoken of in old- 
en times — and not seldom these latter 
days — as the "Heart of Poland." 

The picture was brought to Poland, 
some five hundred years ago, from 
Hungary, whence its origin is traced 
to the East. It is very simply painted 
on cypress wood and age has turned 
it almost black. Stars decorate the 
background to the figures of the Moth- 
er and the Child over whose heads an- 
gels are seen to hold crowns. Our 
Lady's face expresses deep benignity, 
and the Child's face is very like the 
Mother's. 

By the middle of the seventeenth 
century, the shrine of our Lady of 
Czenstochowa was one of Europe's 
most popular pilgrimage places. And 
at that time it won still greater re- 
nown through the fact that when the 



Swedes came to besiege it with the 
intention of plundering its riches, they 
were compelled to retire in disorder. 
It was then, and in thanks for this 
victory, that Poland was solemnly con- 
secrated to the Virgin-Mother of God. 

Devotion to Our Lady of Czenstoch- 
owa has never languished in Poland, 
and thousands of ex-votos testify to 
the favors here bestowed on faithful 
and trustful clients seeking her help 
by the most merciful Mother of God. 
And now that Poland is once again a 
free country, the miraculous shrine of 
Czenstochowa, it may safely be as- 
sumed, shall prove to be the centre, the 
heart's core, of a Catholic national life 
even more intense than was that of the 
Polish people of the Middle Ages. 

Our Lady of Mariazell. 

At Mariazell (which means "Mary's 
house" or "Mary's chamber") in that 
mountainous part of German Austria 
which is properly known as Steues- 
mark and is called Styria in English, 
stands a shrine with an image of Our 
Lady to which for nine hundred years 
pilgrims have come in great numbers 
— one hundred thousand of them a year 
on an average, it is estimated. 

The present church was built only 
six centuries ago, in the fourteenth cen- 
tury but the statue of Mary, placed on 
an altar of quaintly wrought silver, 
was venerated in Mariazell as early as 
the tenth century and its fame as the 
means whereby were wrought many 
and many a miracle of Our Blessed 
Lady's tender mercy has not only 
steadily held its own but has continued 
to grow every year of the thousand or 



514 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



more years during which it has graced 
the little Austrian town. 

The annual pilgrimage, i. e., the 
chief pilgrimage of the twelvemonth, 
is held during the latter part of June 
and the first half of July. It was 
formerly arranged by royal edict, and 
the great majority of Austria's rulers 
— the Hapsburg family, being tradi- 
tionally very devout to Our Blessed 
Lady — visited Mariazell to lay their 
homage at the feet of the Queen of 
Queens. 

The Miraculous Medal. 

On November the 27th, is celebrated 
the Feast of Our Lady of the Mira- 
culous Medal. Follows a brief history 
of the wondrous events which caused 
the establishment of that feast : 

Sister Catherine Laboure was a hum- 
ble, pious novice, in a Paris house of 
the Sisters of Charity. She was pray- 
ing to Our Lady in the Sisters ' Chapel, 
during the night of November 27, 1830, 
when Our Lady appeared before her 
eyes, presenting a medal she held to 
the novice's gaze. On one side of the 
medal was a figure of the Blessed Vir- 
gin, standing on a globe and crushing 
the serpent's head with her foot, while 
rays of light descended to the earth 
from her outstretched hands, and the 
other side showed a large M sur- 
mounted by a cross, and beneath the 
M two hearts, one of them encircled 
with thorns, the other pierced with a 
sword — these hearts meaning, of 
course, the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and 
Mary. 

As Sister Catherine was looking 
with most loving veneration on the Vir- 



gin-Mother of Our Lord and noting the 
medal she held out, the sister heard a 
wonderously sweet, pure voice tell her 
that the rays on the medal were sym- 
bols of the graces which the speaker — 
Mary Immaculate — obtains for those 
who ask them, that Our Lady wished a 
medal to be struck after this model, 
and that those who wore the medal, 
properly blessed, in a spirit of true de- 
votion, should receive special graces. 

The novice told no one of her mira- 
culous experience except only her spiri- 
tual director, and at the solicitation of 
the latter, she later made the fact 
known to the Archbishop of Paris, 
Msgr. de Quelen, by whose authority 
the first medals of the model shown 
through the apparition were struck in 
1832. From the beginning, these 
medals proved most efficacious instru- 
ments of grace, and those who wore 
them obtained countless miraculous 
favors — conversions and cures, espe- 
cially — until now the practice of wear- 
ing Our Lady's Miraculous Medal may 
be said to be a universal practice 
among devout Catholics. 

At the instance of the late Pope Leo 
XIII, the Statue of Mary Immaculate 
of the Miraculous Medal which stands 
in the chapel of the Apparition, Rue 
du Bac, Paris, was solemnly crowned 
by Cardinal Richard on July 26, 1897. 

A famous and glorious example of 
the wonders worked by means of the 
Miraculous Medal is found in the con- 
version of Alphonse Ratisbonne. 

Enemies of, and scoffers at, Cath- 
olic faith and practice particularly de- 
light in calling devotion to Our Blessed 
Lady, when it is evidenced by the 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 515 



wearing of her Miraculous Medal, a 
"childish, thing." But such devotion 
Ls not childish. It is childlike, instead. 
And heing childlike, showing — as show 
it does — the wearer's loving trust in 
the Heavenly Mother, the Catholic's 
practice of wearing the Miraculous 
Medal of the Immaculate Virgin can- 
not fail to make every one who follows 
it truer and better, by constantly re- 
calling to the heart and the mind she 
who is not only purity incarnate, piety 
itself, tenderness unbounded, flawless 
virtue, but also the Mother of God, 
and, by His will, our own Mother and 
Patroness. 

The Feast of Our Lady Mater 
Admirabilis. 

Permission to celebrate the Feast 
of Our Lady Mater Admirabilis 
(Mother Most Admirable) was 
granted in 1849 by Pope Pius IX, of 
saintly memory, and the date of the 
Feast was set for October the twen- 
tieth. 

It is in the chapel of the Convent 
of the Sacred Heart, at Monte-Pincio 
in Rome that may be seen the miracu- 
lous painting of Our Lady Mater Ad- 
mirabilis. It represents the Immacu- 
late Virgin as a maid of twelve or 
thirteen. She is spinning and, at the 
same time, meditating on the glory of 
God. At her left, a lily rises from a 
vase and bends its stem toward her — 
the lily, the flower of purity, being 
especially the flower of the Most Holy 
Queen of Purity, of course. 

This image of Our Blessed Lady is 
not of great antiquity, but the quan- 



tity of votive offerings covering the 
walls of the chapel testify eloquently 
to the fact that the Virgin Mother of 
God has been pleased to shower mirac- 
ulous graces and favors on those who 
prayed before the painting, invoked 
her under the title of Most Admirable 
Mother. It is admitted by all who 
have looked upon the picture that 
Our Lady's gentle, humble purity is 
so well expressed thereby as to fill 
the heart of the pilgrim with the deep- 
est devotion, the truest love for the 
Virgin of Virgins. 

As said Pius IX, when he visited 
the Chapel of Our Lady Mater Ad- 
mirabilis (in 1846), prayed before the 
painting, and solemnly blessed it. "It 
was a pious thought to represent the 
Most Holy Virgin at an age when 
she seems to have been forgotten." 

Our Lady of Fourvieres. 

A blessed distinction enjoyed by the 
shrine of Our Lady of Fourvieres, the 
great and beautiful church which tow- 
ers high above Lyons, the second larg- 
est town of France, is that the first 
celebration on French soil of the feast 
of the Immaculate Conception of the 
Virgin-Mother of God took place in 
this church, and another lies in the 
fact that immediately after the estab- 
lishment of the feast of Our Lady's 
Nativity by the General Council of 

Lyons, a Roman colony in Gaul, had 
Mary's Nativity became the patronal 
feast of Our Lady of Fourvieres (No- 
tre Dame de Fourvieres) to be ob- 
served most lovingly and splendidly 
each year. 

Lyons, a Roman colony in Gaul, had 



516 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



for its first Bishop, St. Pothinus, who 
died the martyr's death near Four- 
vieres, in 177. It was he, it is said, 
who brought to Ludgunum (the Latin 
name of Lyons) a picture of Our Lady 
placed by him in a grotto which later 
was made into the crypt beneath the 
church of St. Nazaire, where it re- 
mains to this day. 

But the first chapel of Our Lady 
of Fourvieres was not built before the 
year 840, enlarged in 1168, it under- 
went complete destruction at the hands 
of the Calvinists in the sixteenth cen- 
tury. The church erected in its place 
was again destroyed by an impious 
mob at the time of the French Revolu- 
tion. So that the shrine of today dates 
back no farther than the beginning of 
the nineteenth century, when it was 
consecrated, in 1905, by Pope Pius VII 
in person. 

The devout Christians of France re- 
gard the shrine of Our Lady of Four- 
vieres as a favorite pied-a-terre ("foot- 
rest" or "occasional home") of Mary 
Immaculate. 

And they substantiate their opinion 
by pointing out the countless favors — 
miraculous cures, conversions, and 
graces of many kinds — granted to 
pious pilgrims during a period of more 
than a thousand years, of which favors 
let there be mentioned the deliverance 
of Lyons from pestilence not once but 
several times in the course of the Mid- 
dle Ages. 

Our Lady of Loretto. 

The feast of the Translation of the 
Holy House of Loretto — which, while 
not a universal feast, can be found on 



the calendar of a great number of 
churches — is celebrated on the tenth 
day of December and was instituted 
in 1632. 

When the followers of Mohammed 
conquered Judea, the town of Naza- 
reth fell into their hands with all the 
rest of the country. It was in Naza- 
reth that stood the humble cottage 
where dwelt the Blessed Virgin Mary; 
where she was praying to God at the 
time that God chose to announce to 
ber, through the Archangel Gabriel, 
the Sublime Mystery of the Incarna- 
tion of the Divine Word. When she 
consented by saying, "Behold the 
handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto 
me according to Thy word," to be- 
come the Mother of the Redeemer; 
where, in short, the wondrous plan of 
salvation by means of Christianity be- 
gan in so far as this earth is concerned. 
Therefore, this house — humble cottage 
though it be — was too holy to remain 
in the possession of heathens, who de- 
nied Our Lord, by far too holy since 
it had contained the Immaculate Moth- 
er of God and God Himself. This be- 
ing the case, there is nothing incred- 
ible, but much that seems deeply rea- 
sonable and logical in the pious belief 
that the holy house was taken away 
from Nazareth by angels and trans- 
ported to Sclavonia, a Christian coun- 
try. However, as the Sclavonians of 
that day were apparently not pious 
Christians, but lukewarm ones, they 
were not deemed worthy of having the 
holy house among them, and angels 
once more carried it away. They took 
it to Italy, into the march of Ancona, 



POPULAR DEVOTIONS OF FAITHFUL. 517 



near the town of Kecanati, and set it 
down not far from the field of a saint- 
ly widow named Lauretta, from whose 
name is derived the french Lorette 
and the English form Loretto. 

Almost from the first moment of the 
holy house's arrival there, the sacred 
edifice became a very homestead of 
miracles. The sick were healed, the 
most obstinate sinners were converted 
when they entered it, and it soon at- 
tracted hosts of pilgrims from every 
part of the Catholic world. 

Belief in the Holy House of Loretto 
is not an article of faith, i. e., we do 
not sin against the Faith by not be- 
lieving in it. But the truth of the pi- 
ous tradition certainly seems to be well 
established — thanks not only to the 
many miraculous favors obtained at 
Loretto, but also to the expert opinions 
of archeologists and other learned men. 

Our Lady of Youghal. 

The old, old town of Youghal, which 
lies at the mouth of the Blackwater in 
Ireland, was once the objective point 
of thousands upon thousands of pil- 
grims, who came to pray before a mi- 
raculous image of Our Blessed Lady in 
a Dominican Abbey, the Immaculate 
Mother of God being there invoked un- 
der the titles of "Our Lady of Graces" 
and "Our Lady of Youghal." 

It was early in the fifteenth century, 
some five hundred years ago, that a 
number of fishermen standing on the 
western shore of Youghal saw the in- 
coming tide carry to the land a very 
large beam of timber. This they did 
their best to carry away, but although 
ten powerful horses were yoked to the 



beam it could not be budged even an 
inch. However, the next rising tide 
bore the beam toward the Dominican 
monastery in the northern part of the 
town, and two of the Fathers from the 
abbey found it easy to lift the beam 
and to transport it, unaided, into the 
courtyard of their convent. 

A few days later, the prior of the 
Dominicans learned, through a vision, 
that the beam contained an image of 
her who is the Virgin Most Powerful. 
Thereupon, the beam was opened, and 
from it was taken a very small statue, 
not more than three inches high — of 
the Holy Mother of God. The statu- 
ette was carved out of ivory, showed 
our Blessed Lady seated and looking 
half sadly and all lovingly, on her 
Divine Child. The Infant Jesus, 
standing on her knee, steadied by her 
right hand, and extending His right 
hand as if He were giving His bless- 
ing. In her right hand Our Lady held 
a white dove and on her head there 
was a crewn. 

From the very beginning of the im- 
age's advent to Youghal, Mary Immac- 
ulate worked wonders of mercy in be- 
half of the pilgrims who came to do 
her honor, in the chapel of the Do- 
minican abbey, where the image was 
housed. The blind and deaf, the lame 
and those stricken with plague, were 
healed there in great numbers, so that 
the fame of Our Lady of Youghal 
spread, not only throughout Ireland, 
but even to far countries in the conti- 
nent of Europe, whence many sufferers 
made their way to the miraculous 
shrine. 

After a century and a half, however, 



518 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



the English began their long course of 
persecution against the children of the 
Holy Church and the Dominican ab- 
bey of Youghal was burnt to the 
ground. But the blessed image of the 
Blessed Mother was saved, and is to- 
day the foremost treasure of the Do- 
minican fathers of St. Mary's church. 
Pope's Quay, in the City of Cork. A 
copy, in carved stone, is the pride of 
the parish church of Youghal, and 
serves to keep alive a fervent devotion 
to Our Lady of Youghal in the place 



where God's Mother was first vener- 
ated under that title. 

Let it be said in this connection that 
the Irish have been distinguished by 
a true and constant love of Mary Im- 
maculate ever since they were con- 
verted to the Faith. "Witness the fact 
that a beautiful Gaelic litany of Our 
Blessed Lady and a number of Gaelic 
hymns and prayers in honor of and 
to the Queen of Heaven date back as 
far as the eighth century. 



CHAPTER TWENTY— Part 2. 



Catholicism and Americanism. 

By MOST REVEREND JOHN IRELAND, D. D. 

Religious and Civil Faith of Catholics — Separate Zones of Thought — Teaching 
of Church on Relations of Church and State — Pope Leo XIII. The Pope Not Am- 
bitious to Rule America — No Room for Discord — Religious Freedom for All — Catholic 
Schools Not Un-American — Catholics Do Not Ask Special Privileges — Catholic 
Voters Free to Choose — Father Corby at Gettysburg— Profession of Faith. 



My religious faith is that of the 
Catholic Church — Catholicism, inte- 
gral and unalloyed — Catholicism, un- 
swerving and soul-swaying, the Cathol- 
icism, if I am to put it into more posi- 
tive and concrete form, taught by the 
supreme chieftain of the Catholic 
Church, the Bishop, the Pope of 
Rome. 

My civil and political faith is that 
of the republic of the United States 
of America — Americanism, purest, and 
brightest, yielding in strength and loy- 
alty to the Americanism of none other 
American, surpassed in spirit of obedi- 
ence and sacrifice by that of none other 
citizen, none other soldier, sworn to 
uphold in peace and in war America's 
Star-Spangled Banner. 

Creed and Country. 

Between my religious faith and my 
civil and political faith, between my 
creed and my country, it has been 
said, there is discord and contradiction, 
sc that I must smother something of 
the one when I bid the other burst 
forth into ardent burning, that I must 



subtract something from my allegiance 
to the one when I bend my full energy 
to service to the other. Those who so 
speak misunderstand either my creed 
or my country; they belie either the 
one or the other. The accord of one 
with the other is the theme of the ad- 
dress I am privileged this evening to 
make. 

No room is there for discord or con- 
tradiction. Church and State cover 
separate and distinct zones of thought 
and action. The Church busies itself 
with the spiritual, the State with the 
temporal. The Church and the State 
are built for different purposes, the 
Church for heaven, the State for earth. 
The line of demarcation between the 
two jurisdictions was traced by the 
unerring finger of Him who is the 
Maker of both ; the law of God is : 
"Render to Caesar the things that are 
Caesar's; and to God the things that 
are God's." 

Church and State. 

I rehearse a vital dogma of Catholic 
faith with regard to the mutual rela- 



520 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



tions of Church and State — the solemn 
teaching of sovereign pontiff, Leo 
XIII. The Pontiff writes: "God has 
divided the government of the human 
race between two principalities, the ec- 
clesiastical and the civil ; the one being 
set over the divine, the other over hu- 
man things. Each is supreme in its 
own sphere ; each has fixed limits, with- 
in which it moves. Each is circum- 
scribed to its own orbit, within which 
it lives and works in its own native 
right .... Things civil and political are 
subject, as reason and equity demand, 
to the civil authority, Jesus Christ 
Himself having commanded that the 
things of Caesar be given to Caesar, as 
the things of God are given to God. 
Language could not be plainer, more 
emphatic, more authoritative, with re- 
gard to the rights of the civil power, 
its independence within its proper zone 
of action. The position of the Cath- 
olic Church, consequently of Catholics, 
toward the nation or state, is defined 
in clearest terms by the highest author- 
ity of the Church. 

Place of the Church. 

What is to be feared from the Cath- 
olic Church? To priests, to bishop, 
or to Pope, who — I am willing lo 
consider the hypothesis — should at- 
tempt to rule in matters civil and 
political, to influence the citizen be- 
yond the range of their own orbit of 
jurisdiction — that of the things of 
God. The answer is quickly made : 
Back to your own sphere of rights 
and duties, back to the things of, 
God ! Or, in like manner, should the 
state or its officials, in law or in act, 



step beyond the frontier of temporal 
jurisdiction and dare lay hands upon 
the things spiritual and divine, the an- 
swer is : Beware, touch not the things 
which God has reserved to his duly 
appointed representatives in the spir- 
itual order. 

Allegiance to a Foreign Power? 

A recent proclamation from an anti- 
Catholic association in America reads: 
"We hold that no citizen is a true 
patriot who owes superior temporal 
allegiance to any power above that 
of his obedience to the principles of 
the Constitution of the United 
States." The shaft is loosed against 
a supposed tenet of the Catholic 
Church ; it pierces the vacant air ; it 
is a missive of pitiable ignorance. 

The Pope and America. 

And now, in America, some do 
say that the Pope of Rome is am- 
bitious of temporal rule over America, 
of planting here the "Yellow and 
White," instead of the Star Spangled 
Banner; that priests and bishops are 
active agents of his yearnings ; that 
Catholics dream of the day when his 
command in civil and political matters 
will sway the White House and Cap- 
itol; that to do this intent associations 
are nightly befitting themselves, by 
sanguinary oath and secret drillings, 
to murder their fellow-citizens and in 
the name of a foreign potentate take 
forcible possession of the land of the 
brave and the home of the free. I 
allude to such wild elucubrations of 
diseased brains only to ask, in un- 
answered wonderment, how such fol- 



CATHOLICISM AND AMERICANISM. 521 



lies can be thought out and acted 
upon, even by a handful of men, in the 
twentieth century, in America? But, 
of course, the insane are ever with us, 
and all the insane are not put into 
safe keeping. 

The partition of jurisdiction into 
the spiritual and the temporal is a 
principle of Catholicism; not less is 
it a principle of Americanism. Cath- 
olicity and Americanism are in com- 
plete agreement. 

No Room For Discord. 

The Constitution of the United 
States reads: "Congress shall make 
no law respecting an establishment of 
religion, or prohibiting the free exer- 
cise thereof." It was a great forward 
leap on the part of the new nation 
toward personal liberty and the con- 
secration of the rights of conscience. 
Not so had it heretofore been on the 
soil of America. Save in Maryland, 
while reigned there the spirit of the 
Catholic Lord Baltimore, and in 
Pennsylvania under the sweet-tem- 
pered rule of William Penn, religious 
freedom was barred by law in the 
colonies — Protestant creeds warring 
one with the other, all warring with 
the Catholic. But it was decreed — 
the new flag must be unsullied by 
religious persecution, the new nation 
must be, on every score, the daughter 
of freedom, the guardian angel of per- 
sonal rights in each and every Amer- 
ican. 

By the terms of the Federal Consti- 
tution as by the teaching of the Cath- 
olic Church no room is given in Am- 
erica for discord between Catholicism 



and Americanism, between my Cath- 
olic faith and my civic and political 
allegiance. 

No Conflict. 

America is a republic; the spirit, 
the form of government is democracy 
— the government of the people, by 
the people, for the people. Is there 
not here, it is asked, at least a touch 
of conflict between my religious faith 
and my civic and political faith? I 
tread upon easy ground, so plain are 
the teachings of the Catholic Church 
in favor of the rights of the people 
in matters of civic and political 
government. I again quote from the 
encyclical letters of Leo XIII. 

The Pontiff writes: "There is no 
power but from God. The right of 
command, however, is not in itself 
likened to any one form of govern- 
ment. One or the other form the 
commonwealth may rightfully give to 
itself, provided such be really promo- 
tive of the common welfare. No reason 
is there why the Church should prefer 
one form of government to another, 
provided the form that is chosen be 
just in itself and favorable to the 
common good. Therefore, the rules 
of justice being duly observed, the 
people are free to adopt that form of 
government which befits their temper, 
or best accords with their traditions 
and customs." America declared it- 
self a republic ; its government is or- 
ganized democracy. In America, ac- 
cording to the teachings of the Cath- 
olic Church, the republic is the sole 
legitimate government; to the re- 
public Catholics are in conscience 



522 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



obliged to yield sincere and unswerv- 
ing obedience. 

God is the source and giver of all 
power; of themselves men have no 
authority over other men. The au- 
thority of the parent over the child 
is from God, who created nature and 
so created the family; the authority 
of the state is from God, who willed 
that men should live within the 
fostering embrace of a social organ- 
ism. In this sense, but in none other, 
a government, whatever the form, 
rules by divine right. God gives the 
power, but the people choose those 
that hold it, and mark out the con- 
ditions under which they do hold it. 
This is supreme democracy; it is the 
dogma of Catholicism. 

Our Republic. 

In America the government is the 
republic— the government of the 
people, by the people, for the people. 
With you, fellow Catholics, with you, 
fellow Americans, I salute the re- 
public. I thank God that the people 
of America are capable of possessing 
a government of this form. 

Would we :alter, if we could, the 
Constitution in regard to its treat- 
ment of religion, the principles of 
Americanism in regard to religious 
freedom? I answer with an emphatic 
no. Common sense is ours. Common 
justice is ours ; a regard to our own 
welfare and safety is also ours. The 
broad fact is that the American peo- 
ple are divided in matters of religious 
belief. To the American people, to 
the whole people, does the country 
belong. What else, then, could the 



framers of the Constitution have done, 
what else since their time could the 
legislators of the land have done, in 
equity towards all, in equity to the 
country as one nation, to its people 
as one people, but solemnly decree, 
as they did, as they continue to do, 
equal rights to all — rights to all, 
privileges to none? Necessarily, re- 
ligious freedom is the basic life of 
America, the cement running through 
all its walls and battlements, the 
safeguard of its peace and prosperity. 
Violate religious freedom against 
Catholics; our swords are at once un- 
sheathed. Violate it in favor of Cath- 
olics, against non-Catholics; no less 
readily do they leap from the scab- 
bard. 

Catholicity and Freedom 

Does Catholicity in America suffer 
from religious freedom allowing 
equality to Catholics and to non- 
Catholics? Compare the lot of Cathol- 
icism in America to that of Cathol- 
icism in so many trans-Atlantic lands, 
where the tenets of pagan Caesarism, 
as to the supremacy of the State over 
the conscience of its subjects, do still 
prevail. There manacles bind hand 
and limb the bride of Christ ; here 
she walks, in queenly mien, and un- 
fettered, putting forth, without let or 
hindrance, the full exuberance of her 
native force and beauty, proving at 
every stepping that her life is all her 
own, since she lives it without out- 
ward help or prop ; that her blossoms 
and fruit are all her own, since they 
spring exclusively from her bosom, 
and of their own vigor defy trium- 



CATHOLICISM AND AMERICANISM. 523 



phantly darkening clouds and bat- 
tling tempests. 

Had the Catholic Church not lived 
and thriven in freedom, truth were 
not its armor, grace from heaven were 
not the comeliness of its countenance. 

They know us little who accuse us 
of coveting civil and political power, 
that we may dim the splendor of the 
fairest flower in the garden of Ameri- 
canism. Our combats, if combats 
there be, are never against the liberties 
of America, but in defense of them ; 
never against Americanism, but against 
such of its sons whose souls never yet 
have thrilled in full response to its 
teachings and inspirations. 

The Church Un-American? 

The charge is made ; if not anti- 
American, the Catholic Church is un- 
American — it is in America an alien 
insitution. More definitely the charge 
is this : The Catholic Church does not 
bear the stamp, "Made in America." 
It is un-American to go across the 
Atlantic or the Pacific for aught that 
America uses or needs — even for its 
religion. Now, the head of the Cath- 
olic Church is the Bishop of Rome, 
a foreigner; its general councils, com- 
posed of men of all nations — foreign- 
ers in the majority, Europeans, Asiat- 
ics, Africans, legislate in faith and 
morals for America. Why not a Pope 
strictly American? "Why not councils, 
as those of other religious bodies, ex- 
clusively made up of Americans — 
capable, as only Americans may be sup- 
posed to be, of interpreting the Amer- 



ican mind and guiding the American 
aspirations ? 

American Faith and Morals. 

Faith and morals made in America 
on a design strictly American ! Great 
and good as is America, it must not ar- 
rogate to itself the realm of the Al- 
mighty God, that of faith and morals. 
Shall we call the Almighty God a 
foreigner? Yet he is not exclusively 
the God of America. Shall we call 
the Savior of Calvary a foreigner? 
Yet He is neither a native nor a nat- 
uralized American and His message 
was, "Teach all Nations" — instead of 
"Teach only America!" And now 
shall we call the Bishop of Rome a 
foreigner, "an alien," because he 
stands before the world the universal 
teacher, the Vicar of Jesus Christ, 
teacher of all nations, teacher of the 
whole human family? 

Argue that the Almighty God is 
not the supreme author of an eternal 
righteousness, that Jesus Christ is not 
the proven revealer of the thoughts 
and the love of the Almighty God, 
that the Bishop of Rome is not the 
historic successor of Christ's aposto- 
late — then, counsel, perhaps, you may, 
an American-made Church for Ameri- 
cans, an American-made code or faith 
and morals. But religion is not a pro- 
duct of the mind of the individual 
man, or of the environment within 
which he lives ; it is not a sheer human 
growth, changeable as the seasons of 
the year, fitful and capricious as the 
likes and dislikes of man and of peo- 
ples. 

Religion is the mind and the will 



524 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



of God, existing as God exists, ob- 
jectively outside of men and of peo- 
ples, superior to all in men, exacting 
from man the obedience due by the 
creature to the Creator. The question 
is never what is it that suits a man, 
or a people, but what is it that God has 
imposed upon men by the eternal laws 
of his supreme righteousness, or by 
the teachings of his historic revela- 
tions? What Americans require is, 
not an American-made, but a God- 
made religion. 

The Church Super-National. 

The Catholic Church is extra- Amer- 
ican, super-national, begotten for all 
nations, not for America alone ; its 
supreme Pontiff is extra-American, 
super-national — a foreigner on no spot 
of earth's surface, everywhere at 
home, as the spiritual father of all 
tribes and of all people who seek 
divine truth from a universal God 
and a universal Savior. 

And this, the beauty, this, the 
grandeur of the Catholic Church, that 
it is Catholic, as the eternal God is 
Catholic, as the salvation given by 
Jesus Christ is Catholic. Narrowness, 
provincialism in religion, in faith and 
morals, is a perversion of God's eter- 
nal law, and of the revelation given to 
men 1,900 years ago. The days of 
tribal religions are past; they must 
not be revived in America. 

Catholics and Schools. 

Another charge of un-Americanisin 
— the attitude of the Catholics toward 
state schools. My answer is quickly 
at hand. The state takes to itself the 



task of instructing the children of its 
people in branches of secular knowl- 
edge ; in order that this be done the 
more efficiently and the more gener- 
ally, the state pays from the public 
treasury the financial cost of the 
schools opened under its patronage. 
Do Catholics make objection to the 
task or to the financial expenditure 
it entails? 

Convinced they are, as the most 
zealous supporters of state schools, 
that no child, whether for its own, 
or for the sake of the state, should 
grow up without an adequate share of 
secular knowledge ; and convinced no 
less are they that it is right and 
proper on the part of the state to 
disburse its funds in favor of uni- 
versal secular instruction. What 
then our claim? One that we most 
licitly put forth on behalf of America 
itself : that this secular instruction be 
given so that the religious creed of 
the least of the little ones be not 
made to suffer; that it be given so 
that the influences of religion — in- 
fluences, however much outside the 
direct grant of the civil power, still 
vitally necessary to the social life 
and security of the state itself, as they 
are to the spiritual life of the souls 
of its citizens — be not contaminated 
or nullified. Not against state 
schools, as such, do I raise objection, 
but as to the methods in which they 
work — methods that, whatever the 
theory, do in fact consecrate secular- 
ism as the religion of America, and 
daily are thither driving America with 
the floodtide of a Niagara. Some- 



CATHOLICISM AND AMERICANISM. 525 



how, secular knowledge should be 
imparted to tho child so as not to 
imperil its faith in God and in Christ. 
Prove to me, I say, that this conten- 
tion does not fully fit into the Consti- 
tution of the United States, that in 
making it, I have not in mind the 
welfare the salvation of America — 
prove this before you denote me as 
un-American. 

A pernicious mistake is made re- 
garding our complaint of the methods 
in which state schools are conducted. 
It is, that Catholics are looking ex- 
clusively to themselves and to cheir 
financial interests. Not so at all: we 
look to ourselves, but' even more we 
look to the people of America. We 
need not be much concerned for our- 
selves. We have our Catholic 
schools ; to-morrow we shall have them 
in greater numbers — schools where 
our children receive secular knowl- 
edge without peril to faith and 
morals. Nor do we count the cost 
of maintaining those schools, in view 
of the priceless protection they give 
to faith and morals. But the vast 
population around us is limited to 
schools of secularism, and in this way 
secularism is fast becoming the re- 
ligion of America. Say what you 
will, today, in America, the evil is 
the decay of religion, and in logical 
sequence, the decay of morals. In both 
instances the cause of the decay is the 
enforced secularism of the state schools. 
Others than Catholics, heedful observ- 
ers and intelligent thinkers, admit the 
evil, admit the cause, and give the 
alarm. I trust to the awakening com- 



mon sense and patriotism of the Amer- 
ican people to discover the remedy. 
Meanwhile in telling of the evil and of 
the cause, my right hand on my con- 
science, I rank myself among the truest 
and most loyal Americans. 

The Square Deal. 

An axiom of Americanism is equal 
rights for all, fair play, "the square 
deal," as it has been termed. That, 
and naught else, is the demand of 
Catholics in America. Catholics de- 
mand their rights — all the rights 
guaranteed to American citizenship 
by the letter and the spirit of the 
Constitution; and for the acquisition 
and the preservation of those rights 
they shrink from no means or methods 
sanctioned by the Constitution and the 
laws of the land. Were they to act 
otherwise, they were the unworthy 
sons of America. The rights of Cath- 
olics are the rights of the personal 
conscience of the Catholic citizen. It 
is not the Catholic Church in its of- 
ficial name that comes into issue ; it 
is the American citizen, whose relig- 
ious faith is the faith of the Catholic 
Church. Not to know one's rights 
is low mindedness, not to defend them 
is cowardice. The true American, 
differing from us in religion, would 
despise us if we laid down our arms 
before bigotry and injustice, and by 
so doing disgraced the shield of Amer- 
icanism, ever vowed to justice and to 
valor. 

No Special Privilege. 

Do we, however, demand special 
privileges not accorded to other cit- 



526 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



izens of America? No — never — no 
more than we would allow others 
special privileges not accorded to our- 
selves — less even than we would allow 
such privileges to others. If the mem- 
bers of a church, or a religious or a 
semi-religious organization of any 
kind arises in America, calling for 
special privileges, be the shame of un- 
Americanism their portion. Such a 
contention never will be the disgrace 
of Catholicism. The common law of 
the land is what Catholics propose for 
themselves ; it is what they propose 
for others. 

Of the American people this must 
be said — I say it from my heart, in 
full knowledge — a people more deeply 
penetrated with the sense of civic and 
political justice, more generous in con- 
cession of rights, where rights be- 
long, more respectful of their every 
brother, their every fellow-citizen, is 
not in existence on the broad surface 
of the globe. This my tribute to the 
American people, this my verdict, my 
fifty years of private and public com- 
mingling compel me to pronounce. 

Citizenship. 

Good citizenship is the need of 
America, the basis of its safety, the 
spring of its hopes. It is the imper- 
ious law of Catholicism. I say, the 
law of Catholicism — ■ the law, conse- 
quently, of all who live its spirit, who 
obey its mandates. Those who bear 
the name of Catholic, but are faith- 
less to the injunctions of their religion 
I disown. They are bad citizens des- 
pite their creed, which with all the 
forces innate in it makes for good 



citizenship. To the Catholic, obedi- 
ence to law is a religious obligation, 
binding in God's name the conscience 
of the citizen. 

I do not discuss the hypothesis of 
laws wrong in morals, clearly beyond 
the province of the civil power, viola- 
tions of the rights of the personal 
conscience. Such laws were not rati- 
fied by the supreme Master of right- 
eousness. 

It is Americanism that the ballot 
box is the sanctuary of good citizen- 
ship, opening its doors for the weal 
and honor of the country. A sacri- 
lege it is to step towards it with 
bribe in hand, fraud in mind, to reach 
towards it the offering of selfishness or 
injustice. None more careful of the 
unstained ballot box than the good 
Catholic loyal to the Catholic faith; 
America is the sole issue before him — 
its weal and honor. Aught else in 
mind or in heart, he is a traitor to 
his creed, as he is a traitor to his 
country. 

The best man for the office, what- 
ever the religious creed of the man. 
To put a Catholic into office, merely 
because he is a Catholic, though other- 
wise unworthy and incapable, is a 
crime against America, a sin against 
Almighty God. 

Catholic Voters Free. 

In choosing his candidates, the 
Catholic voter is the freest of the 
free. It is a calumny that we deeply 
resent to say that in civic and political 
matters Catholic voters are under the 
influence of the Church. Priests and 
bishops do not dictate the politics of 



CATHOLICISM AND AMERICANISM. 527 



Catholics ; if they strove to do so their 
interference would be promptly re- 
pulsed. It is of public knowledge that 
the Catholic vote is distributed among 
the several political parties of the 
country. To speak of myself, priv- 
ately and publicly as a citizen, I give 
my allegiance to a particular political 
party. Do I dare preach from my 
pulpit the tenets of that party to the 
discredit of another ? Do I dare allow 
that, if heeded at all by others, my 
choice of a ballot should or could 
receive other attention than that due 
to its civic and political merit? As 
a matter of fact, legions of Catholic 
voters in America believe me hope- 
lessly wrong in politics. As a citizen 
I may regret that my political in- 
fluence is not wider; as a Catholic 
I am glad of the independence of the 
citizenship of America. 

There is in America no Catholic 
political party, nor should there be. 
As a matter of course, were a special 
issue raised in which rights of Catho- 
lics were menaced, the conscience of 
Catholics were impelled to defend 
those rights on the ground of American 
fair play itself. That — and nothing 
more. 

Now and then, I myself made the 
complaint that in America Catholics 
are not represented in the higher 
offices of the land proportionately to 
their numbers. My words were in- 
terpreted as if I had urged Catholics 
to take political control of State and 
nation in the interest of the Catholic 
Church. Nothing is further from my 
mind. My sole contention is that 



seemingly Catholics are lacking in 
legitimate civic ambition, or in high 
civic qualifications, else their fellow- 
Americans would have been more will- 
ing to honor them. Is this position 
not squarely American-equal rights 
to all, provided the merits be equal? 
I repeat the lesson to Catholics who 
now hear or may read my words. 
For your own sake, for the sake of 
America, upward be your march in 
social and political ambition, in ability 
to render service to the country, in 
moral worthiness, intellectual culture ; 
then trust yourselves to the social 
and political justice of your fellow- 
Americans. I have said: trust to the 
justice and fair play of your fellow- 
citizens. Should, however, the particu- 
lar case arise where it is plain you 
are set aside solely because you are 
Catholics, then, in the name of Amer- 
icanism, protest — so loudly that never 
again will similar insult be offered 
to your American citizenship. 

Catholics in War Time. 

I have told of the American Catholic 
in time of peace. Shall I tell of him 
in time of war? Here I proffer no 
argument ; I relate a historic occur- 
rence. It was at Gettysburg, fifty 
years ago the second day of July, 
3 863. The command is hurried to the 
Irish brigade to check the onrush of 
Gen. Anderson's Confederates. The 
chaplain, the Rev. William Corby, 
leaps to the top of a large boulder 
stone: "The Catholic Church," he 
shouts, "refuses Christian burial to 
the soldier who turns his back to the 
foe or deserts his flag," adding that 



528 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



he is ready to impart sacramental 
absolution to those who in their hearts 
make a sincere act of sorrow for sin. 
All are on their knees ; Gen. Hancock, 
in his saddle, removes his hat; the 
absolution is given ; the charge is 
made ; the Confederates flee. Gettys- 
burg is but one of a hundred instances 
my tongue could easily name. 

As a religion, Catholicism is in the 
arena, with the spiritual arms forged 
by its founder — faith, hope and char- 
ity. It is avowedly expansive and 
propagandist. What else could it be 
so long as the divine commission 
read: "Going, therefore, teach ye all 
nations." 

Need America fear the spread of the 
religious creed of Catholicism? In 
reality the question is none other than 
this : Need America fear the spread 
of the Gospel of Christ? If the Cath- 
olic Church wins in the battle with 
unbelief, or with the present varied 
forms of Christianity, it will only 
be because it demonstrates in itself the 
perpetuity of the Kingdom of Christ, 
to which solely it makes its appeal. 
Its doctrines, its life and action, must 
be those of Christ ; else, as it should 
do, it vanishes from the scene. Argu- 
ment in opposition to its claim as the 
religion of Christ, it calmly awaits. 
Of arguments it does not complain. 
It only asks that passion be absent 
from the contest, that calumny and 
misrepresentation be not made use of. 
. . . The work of expansion, as done 
by the Catholic Church, will be the 
work of peace and of love. No social 
discord can come from it — no break in 



the harmony that should sweeten the 
ties binding together fellow-citizens 
and neighbors in the common service 
of a common country. 

The Message of the Church. 

To the civil and political institu- 
tions of America no harm can come 
from the spread of Catholicism. Yea 
— to those institutions Catholicism 
brings elements most vital to their 
life and growth, those of a positive, 
authoritative religion. Never does 
materialism beget or sustain a well- 
ordered social organism ; never does 
a vague uncertain Christian sentiment 
give to it strength and cohesiveness. 
The Catholic Church puts forth a clear 
and definite message ; it speaks with 
authority. In its dogmas and enact- 
ments it is thoroughly social, laying 
supreme stress on the principles of 
law and order, so necessary to society, 
especially in a free democracy. 

It teaches that disobedience to law 
is a sin against God; that society is 
from God ; that to undermine the 
foundations of society, to make null 
its purposes and mission, is to resist 
the ordinance of God. It teaches the 
sanctity and the indissolubility of 
marriage, setting its whole power in 
restraint of that terrible plague of 
divorce, so ruinous to-day of the fam- 
ily hearthstone, the fundamental unit 
of the whole social organism. 

I repeat my profession of faith — my 
religious faith, Catholicity; my civil 
and political faith, Americanism. 

Some twenty years ago, on a mem- 
orable occasion, an illustrious prelate, 
at that time the official representative 



CATHOLICISM AND AMERICANISM. 529 



of Pope Leo XIII, said to the Cath- 
olics of America: "The Gospel of 
Christ in one hand, the Constitution 
of the United States in the other, go 



forth to work and to victory." Our 
signal of combat! It is the work of 
Francis Satolli: it is Catholicity and 
Americanism. 



Our Country. 

By HIS EMINENCE CARDINAL O'CONNELL. 



America's Resources — Freedom — The Place of Religion — History's Warning — 
False Teaching — Religious Influence — Catholicity — Our Country. 



A land broad and fair and free, its 
shores washed by two mighty oceans; 
its giant mountains guarding price- 
less treasures; its trackless forests 
yielding the hoarded wealth of cen- 
turies ; its mighty rivers bearing the 
fortunes of untold millions ; its end- 
less myriads of resources still but 
scarcely touched and beneath their 
surface boundless realms of prosperity 
and abundance ; that is our country — 
that is what in our admiring love for 
it we, the children of this great na- 
tion, are wont with good reason to 
call God's own country, America. No 
empty rhetoric is this; not fancy but 
fact furnishes the reason of our en- 
thusiasm for such a birthplace as 
every citizen of America can call his 
very own. 

Were this a gathering of financiers 
eager for still greater wealth, of mer- 
chant princes yearning for still bigger 
markets, of adventurers sighing for 
still richer fields, the story of this 
country's material resources, of mines 
still hidden, of rivers still wasted, of 
railroads still unplanned — in a word, 
the recounting of the money power 
of all these things still waiting to be 



energized, would be a theme to thrill 
such an audience eager to learn more 
and more of all of America's future 
and America's promise to those who 
can wrest her secrets from her and 
lead the way to her boundless treas- 
ure-house. 

America's Resources. 

And yet, when all that fascinating 
story has been exhausted, the true 
core of the hold America has upon our 
faithful love still remains unrevealed. 
And so, to those who like you here 
present are dominated not by mere 
material aims and hopes and selfish 
purposes, but by nobler and higher 
impulses and instincts and ideals, the 
enumeration of the sources of wealth 
of our country, while interesting 
enough to hear, will still leave you not 
unimpressed but almost apathetic and 
cold. And the reason is not far to 
see. 

For well you know that out of the 
teeming millions of our population, 
few indeed will ever be asked to sit 
at the banker's desk, few, very few, 
will ever occupy a chair at the board 
meeting whose sole business is to 



530 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



count its wealth and make it grow to 
even larger proportions. By far the 
great bulk of the people in America, 
as elsewhere, will ever bear the 
burden of the day and the heat, and 
the unknown millions here as in every 
other land must daily bend to the 
weight of toil and labor — a toil and 
a labor which well we know grow at 
times into a burden almost intoler- 
able. Surely, to these millions the 
story of the weaith and resources of 
America must have but a small fas- 
cination, since they know fall well 
that they will never either see them 
or touch them or hold them. There 
is but one thing in all this world that 
for these millions of toilers can lighten 
their burden and lessen the weight of 
their labor. It is that sacred light 
shining through the gloom of the 
workman's life which converts his 
heavy burden into a joyous hope. It 
is that sacred spark of heavenly fire 
which, amid all the benumbing petti- 
ness of a sordid life, gives him the 
courage and the spirit to lift his eyes 
to the level of every man, however far 
above him, with a sure sense of funda- 
mental equality. 

Freedom. 

It is the knowledge that he is a 
man as any other man, whatever his 
station ; that he is neither chattel, nor 
thing, nor possession, but an indi- 
vidual, a person, free in body, in 
mind and heart; in a word, the one 
thing that constitutes his earthly hap- 
piness is his freedom. That is the 
wealth dear to the human heart be- 



yond all the kingdoms of the world. 
And that, more than all else, infinitely 
more than all the treasures of this 
country, is the very heart and core of 
the love we all bear for America. 

It is because America is the home 
of freemen and because over all alike 
waves her sacred banner of liberty, 
that we love her with a love next only 
to that we owe to the Kingdom of 
God. It is because every man living 
on her sacred soil can say those three 
little words, "I am free," whether he 
be rich or poor; that whatever his 
race or color or creed, he can tread 
the earth upright, and freely measure 
the power of his brain and the 
strength of his sinews with all the 
other millions of men about him; it 
is because he has a government which 
he helps to make and an opportunity 
which he helps to create, that he is 
hemmed in by no legal disadvantages, 
that he is neither bondsman nor serf 
nor slave ; it is because of this and 
this alone that every citizen of this 
land loves her with an undying love 
and strives for her stability and per- 
petuity. 

Take away freedom from a nation 
and what is all the rest? The deep 
mines of gold and silver and copper, 
the endless wealth of industries, with 
the comforts and luxuries they pur- 
chase — what are all these without 
freedom? Nothing, nothing, less than 
nothing. It is as if you had blinded 
a man and then in mockery bade him 
gaze at the beauty of the heavens. 
Even in a gilded cage the prisoner 
beats upon the bars, tears them and 



CATHOLICISM AND AMERICANISM. 531 



rends them, or dies still crying the 
heart-rending cry of the human soul — 
liberty. 

Liberty. 

And what is liberty ? Since it means 
so much to all human life that nothing 
can take its place or supplant it, it is 
well to study just what it is and what 
depends upon it. One thing we know 
is certain, that upon our answer hangs 
not only our own individual happi- 
ness, but the very existence of Amer- 
ica itself. For if it is true that Amer- 
ica has given us liberty, it is truer 
still that liberty alone can preserve 
America. This is no paradox, but the 
simplest truth. Let us see. If by 
liberty is meant that every American 
is a law unto himself, then let me say 
here, frankly and fearlessly, that 
neither America nor any other land 
ever had the right to grant such lib- 
erty. For America, good as she cer- 
tainly is, never has intended to be so 
good as to destroy herself. And noth- 
ing is more certain than this, that any 
nation granting to each man the right 
to be a law unto himself — that mo- 
ment signs her own death warrant. 

Freedom With Restraint. 

There certainly can be no need to 
labor this argument. Is there any one 
in the whole land who does not see 
that under such terms of liberty there 
can be neither crime nor criminal, 
neither court nor prison, neither law 
nor law-giver, nor property, nor 
rights, nor state, nor government. 
Such liberty of America would mean 
her suicide. That much must be clear 



to everyone. And since we see all 
about us courts and legislatures, the 
officers of government and the prisons 
for criminals, the clear interpretation 
must be that even American liberty 
means freedom with restraint, a free- 
dom according to standards, fixed 
and settled by law. Indeed, liberty 
and law must always go hand in 
hand. 

Now let me ask, since restraint must 
ever accompany true liberty, in what 
is a free man truly free? The only 
answer to that question is, he is free 
for good, not for evil. And here we 
are at once before another all-import- 
ant question — what is good and what 
is evil? And since it is the purpose 
of civilized government to answer that 
question in every statute it frames, 
we pass immediately to the dilemma, 
between the horns of which every or- 
ganized state must finally be driven, 
either the absolutism of tyranny 
formulating its own inflexible decrees 
of right or wrong, and maintaining 
itself by force alone, or the divine 
right of justice resting upon the 
eternal principles of God and in- 
scribed upon the nation's statute 
books as the highest guide to all her 
citizens. 

This means, if it means anything at 
all, that as there can be no liberty 
without law, there can be no law 
without God. And so every human 
being in search of liberty must in- 
evitably accept one or another of 
these three things — absolute anarchy, 
absolute state tyranny, or the law 
founded upon the eternal principles 



532 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



of divine justice ; either the whim 
of a tyrant resting alone on force of 
arms, or sacred law founded upon the 
principles of religion, or no law at all. 
Let him seek and seek forever, but 
from this inexorable logic he can 
never hope to escape. 

The Place of Religion. 

It follows very clearly from this 
that the state which throws off 
religion must by inevitable necessity 
accept either anarchy or tyranny, and 
both end in utter destruction. No one 
who knows anything at all of past his- 
tory can help seeing that this is the 
positive teaching of facts. The whole 
story of Rome and Greece and Assyria 
and Egypt point clearly to this one 
only conclusion. Every single one of 
them was founded on a religious basis 
of law. And whatever of strength they 
gathered or gained they wrested from 
popular faith in those principles. As 
in time the falsity of their supersti- 
tion became manifest, their false di- 
vinities were thrown to the winds. 
Yet, utterly false as they were, they 
lent some fundamental ideas of a 
spiritual responsibility to a power out- 
side and above themselves. 

So long as that idea of responsibil- 
ity lasted it gave strength to authority 
and power to the nation. When the 
people discovered the folly of their 
own incredulity all authority went 
with it and anarchy was at the door. 
And soon luxury, effeminacy, avarice 
and the whole family of human vices 
weakened every shadow or law, and 
the greatness and power of all these 
nations utterly disappeared. For a 



short while the tyranny of absolutism 
was substituted for the restraint in 
which even their superstitions served 
to hold them, but soon the tyrants met 
the usual fate of all tyrants, the door 
was suddenly wrenched open, the eter- 
nal enemy, the barbarian, stood in the 
threshold and a great empire had 
fallen. 

History's Warning. 

It is a far cry from America to 
ancient Assyria and Egypt, and yet 
from out the graves of fallen empires 
the warning voice of history speaks 
even to this youngest of all the na- 
tions, our own America. But nearer, 
much nearer, comes many another 
warning. Not once, but a hundred 
times, have even the modern Christian 
nations learned the awful cost of that 
lack of eternal vigilance which alone 
can safeguard liberty. And even to- 
day, poor blood-drenched Europe, 
though she strive to hide even from 
her own eyes the true cause of this 
suicidal war, is at last thoroughly con- 
vinced that the Voltaires and the Vi- 
vianis, the Haeckels and the Nitzsches, 
the Tolstois and the Huxleys, the 
Kants and all the rest of that mon- 
strous brood, who for now many years 
have poisoned the thought and em- 
bittered the heart of the student 
youth, are now reaping their terrible 
but abundant harvest. 

The children before whose eyes the 
crucifix — the sign of renunciation and 
restraint— was torn from the wall of 
the schoolroom, and from whose little 
books the very name of God was 
blotted out in infamy, the genera- 



CATHOLICISM AND AMERICANISM. 533 



tions trained in the selfish principle 
whose chief dogma was: "Let us live 
for today, for tomorrow we die," are 
dying by the millions. And unless 
an all-merciful God soon rescues 
Europe, only a small fragment will be 
left to tell the story, the bitter, heart- 
rending story of how much sorrow and 
suffering it takes to lead a nation out 
from the blindness of infidelity up 
again to its ancient vision of God, of 
the law of Christ, and of the happi- 
ness of a Christian state. 

No, the lessons are not far to seek, 
but who, even now, takes the pains 
to read them? Even today when all 
Europe is expiating its crime against 
God and its desertion of His law, on 
every square of our great cities an 
apostle of open infidelity is shouting 
his gospel, his appeal to the millions. 
Freedom, freedom, is their cry and 
their shibboleth. Free thought, free 
life, free love — that is their Trinity 
and their whole gospel. We know 
there are thousands — yes, hundreds 
of thousands — who are rushing to 
meet that cry, men who want neither 
law nor restraint nor government of 
any kind. Their conventicles are wide 
open; their existence is no secret. 

False Teaching. 

But there are millions, yes, millions 
—and the number is growing yearly — 
who, though not openly joining their 
ranks, have accepted their principles. 
Any one who knows anything at all of 
this country must know that this is the 
actual condition of things; and, know- 
ing that, can he for a moment doubt 
that this government and this nation 



are on trial for their very life in a 
thousand tribunals all over the land? 

Do you think people like these who 
have cast aside God and law are 
merely looking calmly on while a few, 
by fair means or foul, are gathering in 
such wealth as even emperors have 
never dreamed? And do you think 
that the child, whose only catechism, 
teaches him that God is a myth, that 
property rights are legal robbery and 
that marital laws are sheer nonsense, 
is going to grow up tomorrow an in- 
active witness of the intolerable con- 
ditions all about him? Do you think 
that he is not waiting for the day 
when he will be big enough and strong 
enough to put into violent practice the 
solemn lessons so sedulously taught 
him? Why, the very streets of the 
whole nation are filled with the cries 
of every manner of doctrine against 
organized society and all that it stands 
for and everything upon which it 
rests. Here under our very eyes the 
axe is being laid to the root of the 
tree. We have only to look to realize 
that the very corner-stone of our 
government is menaced from a hun- 
dred different angles. 

Religious Influence. 

If ever America needed the whole- 
hearted love of her children, it is to- 
day. If ever she needed to prepare 
not merely to guard against dangers 
which threaten her very existence, it 
is today — dangers all the more in- 
sidious that they don the cap of free- 
dom and clothe themselves in the garb 
of Guardians of Liberty. I know there 
are thousands — yes, millions — of our 



534 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



best citizens who see these dangers 
and are alert to their malicious and 
corrupting influences. But of all that 
vast array of those who love America, 
upon none may she so surely and 
reliably depend in every need and 
emergency as upon the eighteen mil- 
lions of Catholics, who are proud to 
be at the same time subjects of the 
kingdom of God on earth and citizens 
of America. It is not we Catholics, 
but the leaders of all the non-Catholic 
bodies who openly declare that Prot- 
estanism has lost its hold upon the 
masses — that every year hundreds of 
their churches are closed and those 
still left open are half empty. It is 
not we but the Protestant leaders 
themselves who say that the descend- 
ants of those who a century ago had 
a living faith in God, in Christ, and 
in the tenets of their belief have in 
our own day drifted into open in- 
fidelity and scepticism which has 
eaten out the whole fabric of their 
faith. And if they who best know 
avow these things, then undoubtedly 
they must be true. And if this is 
true, then it means just one thing — 
that the moral fiber and the moral 
principles upon which alone this 
government depends for its strength 
are just by so much the weaker; and 
it is equally true that American lib- 
erty has just so many less to defend 
it and to safeguard it. 

Catholicity. 

We are making no accusations here 
— we are merely repeating the very 
words of hundreds of those who are 
recognized as leaders and prophets 



among their own co-religionists. But 
side by side with these admissions is 
the other fact which we know and 
which they all know quite as well as 
we ; one of the startling phenomena 
of the age is the tremendous growth 
of Catholicism in America — a growth 
so startling and so impressive and so 
urgent that each year it taxes to the 
utmost capacity the ever-increasing 
number and size of the churches and 
the tireless labor of bishops and priests 
whose care it is to minister to them. 
And it is well for the present and fu- 
ture of America that this is so, for 
here at least is a religious organiza- 
tion upon whose sterling and stead- 
fast worth she can absolutely rely, 
as the very corner-stone of law and 
order, the prop and support of govern- 
ment, and a bulwark against the cor- 
rupting forces of anarchy and decay, 
of irreligion and infidelity. Look out 
over the whole field of the nation's 
activity and tell me what other or- 
ganization in that whole field has her 
experience in dealing with the great 
masses of the people. What other or 
ganization has won as she has, and as 
she today right here in America pos- 
sesses, the full confidence and loyalty 
and respect of the general population ? 
"Why are her churches forever over- 
crowded and her ministers forever 
overworked ? Surely there must be an 
answer to this suggestion. 

Hold Upon the People. 

Ask the ordinary man in the street 
and he will tell you — it is because 
no government owns her, but all gov- 
ernment needs her. It is because she 



CATHOLICISM AND AMERICANISM. 535 



will minister to the rich, but not one 
nor a thousand capitalists can pur- 
chase her or dominate her. It is be- 
cause she holds the rich to a moral 
reckoning, and the richer and more 
powerful they are the less she flinches. 
It is because in a world which has 
gone mad for wealth she stands by the 
poor. It is because even from the poor 
she can still exact duty and virtue. 
It is because, though she loves all the 
outcasts and victims of the selfish 
world, she can unflinchingly make 
them throw down the arms of venge- 
ance and take up the cross. It is 
because she loves even the blackest 
sinner and sends to his knees the 
false-hearted pharisee. It is because 
before her altar all men are equal, 
not in word, but in very truth. It is 
because not one of the twenty mil- 
lions who in America call her by the 
tender name of Mother, but knows 
that though all the world forsake him, 
whether in shame or disgrace, in sor- 
row or in black despair, her arms are 
always open, through the whole day 
and through the darkest night in love 
to his embrace, to strengthen him, to 
guide him, to comfort him. It is be- 
cause of all the whole world he has 
found her alone always the same. 

These and a hundred other motives, 
if you care to listen, the man in the 
street will give you as the reason for 
the Church's hold upon the people 
and the people 's unwavering affection 
for the Church. And this wonderful 
and universal influence over the hearts 
of men is the reason why no one 
who has the welfare of the whole 



people at heart can afford to ignore 
her. 

Suspicion and Jealousy. 

We are well aware of the suspicions 
with which she is regarded, the jeal- 
ousy which her influence arouses. To 
the suspicious she answers: "Here are 
my principles ; read them : they are no 
secret but the same for all alike." 
And to those jealous of her influence 
she replies: "Is thy eye evil because 
I am good ? ' ' Though her enemies and 
those who distrust her ask her bru- 
tally: "What do you want, and what 
are you after here?" she answers 
frankly, honestly and sincerely — 
"Nothing but liberty. We want only 
what is our right, the right of every 
legitimate organization in this whole 
country — no more, no less." 

Church Teaching. 

We are strengthening your hand as 
a nation by strengthening the moral 
fiber of the whole people. We teach 
them to love America even when often 
they can see small reason for unselfish 
affection. We teach them to obey 
your laws and respect your author- 
ities ; we care nothing for your mines, 
your wealth, or your riches. We are 
neither a trust nor a syndicate who 
seek to control you£ franchises or 
exploit your resources. We inculcate 
truest patriotism founded upon di- 
vine law. We are here to help men 
to keep alive the light of their souls, 
the hope of heaven, the love of God. 
That and that alone is why we are 
working here. And for that we de- 
mand and insist upon our perfect lib- 



536 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



erty— a liberty which in the end, 
brings far more help to you than you 
can summon from any other organiza- 
tion living under your flag. 

"We have not committed to this 
count ry the safeguarding of our lives, 
our fortunes, our property with any 
other understanding than that in re- 
turn tor our loyalty you guarantee us 
protection in what to us is the most 
essential of all human rights — re- 
ligious liberty. 

Representation. 

We ask no favor. Your protection 
of our liberty is no favor — it is a part 
of this dual contract between our 
country and ourselves. We pledge 
ourselves to keep our part — see to it 
that you keep yours as sacredly. We 
have a right, an unquestionable right, 
to legitimate representation in all the 
affairs of the country. If you discrim- 
inate against us, you are not keeping 
your contract ; we are not getting true 
liberty. 

If because a citizen is a Catholic, 
a thousand plausible pretexts are set 
out to discard him and discredit him 
in your cabinets and your courts you 
are not keeping your contract: this 
is not liberty. If you stand by in- 
active, while under your very eyes, 
yes, through your very mails, which 
we pay for, we are insulted, scur- 
rilously maligned and openly vilified 
in filthy journals and nasty, indecent 
literature unfit to be printed or read, 
spread broadcast that dupes and 
bigots may be poisoned against us, so 
that we may be robbed even of our 
public rights — then you are not keep- 



ing your contract — this is not liberty. 
You are only wounding the hand, the 
strongest hand held out to help you; 
you are spurning the aid of thooe 
who again and again you have found 
in your hour of direst need the most 
willing to die for you. yes, we 
know very well the whole litany of 
accusations against us. We give only 
a divided allegiance. We are schem- 
ing for government. These are all 
lies so patent that they need no an- 
swer. Indeed, those who fling them 
out will never listen to my answer. 
But I am going to answer them once 
and forever here tonight. 

As a Cardinal I may be supposed to 
know what I am saying on this sub- 
ject. And on my word as a gentle- 
man of honor I am speaking the 
simple, absolute truth. I have known 
intimately, personally and officially 
three Sovereign Pontiffs — three Popes 
of the Catholic Church. I am a priest 
now thirty-two years; I am a bishop 
fifteen years and a Cardinal five years. 
I have had the closest relation with 
not only the Pope, but the whole 
Roman curia. I know well every 
priest in my diocese, and every bishop 
in this country. Yet, never, never in 
all that experience have I ever heard 
spoken, lisped or whispered, or even 
hinted by any or all of these, anything 
concerning America and American in- 
stitutions but words of affection, of 
tender and kindliest solicitude for her 
welfare; never a syllable that could 
not be printed in the boldest type 
and distributed throughout the land; 
neither plot nor scheme nor plan — but 



CATHOLICISM AND AMERICANISM. 537 



only sentiments of admiration and 
love. If there is plotting I ought to 
know it. Yet absolutely and honestly 
of such things I have never heard 
even a whisper. This is my answer 
to all these insinuations. That I know 
the truth I think no one will deny; 
that after such a pledge I am still 
concealing the truth, that I must leave 
to those who, I repeat, will never 
listen to my answer. 

Civil Allegiance. 

The Catholic civil allegiance di- 
vided? "Why, look across the sea, to 
where all Europe is in arms. Every 
Catholic is fighting loyally, giving his 
very life for his own country. And 
though some of these countries have 
merited little gratitude from any 
Catholic, still the very priests are in 
the trenches, each a defender of his 
native land. Where, I ask of any 
honest witness of these facts under his 
very eyes, where is this divided civil 
allegiance? And the Pope — is there 
one in this country who after this war 
will ever dare to accuse the Pope of 
interference in civil affairs or of weak- 
ening the loyalty of citizens? Behold 
him the universal Father of the faith- 
ful, looking out over all the world, 
and weeping and praying for the peace 
of all the nations, offering solace and 
counsel to all alike — a lonely, pathetic, 
figure, like Christ — begging the world 
to listen that he may heal all and 
help all. The world knows the truth 
today of the position of the Pope in 
relation to all the nations. Not an- 
other word is needed. 

Our country — the land which above 



all others we love most — God keep 
you free from such enemies, the worst 
of all that confronts you, whose hate 
would rob your most faithful sons of 
that for which they love you — lib- 
erty, blessed holy liberty — the free- 
dom to worship God. Beyond our 
lives we love our Faith, and with 
these same lives we stand ready to 
defend the land which gives us liberty. 
These are the sentiments of every 
Catholic throughout the land; these, 
the sentiments of every member of 
the Catholic Federation of America. 
It is that these sentiments may be 
better understood and more widely 
known that that federation exists and 
works and strives. 

This great metropolis may well be 
proud of this gathering here tonight; 
yes, and America may well thank God 
that the Catholic Church, heeding 
neither malice nor slander, goes 
peacefully along her glorious way, 
fortifying the souls of men with the 
hope of a blessed immortality and 
building up the strength of the na- 
tions as she passes. For they who 
adore the Kings of Kings and recog- 
nize His dominion over the world are 
always they who also learn to bow 
reverently to the just mandates of 
earthly authority. Such, America, is 
your good fortune — that while from a 
thousand sides your very existence is 
threatened by false and pernicious 
principles, the Catholic Church and 
this Catholic Federation stand ever 
ready in your defense by safeguard- 
ing the sanctity of law and the sacred 
principles of government. The Cath- 



538 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



olic Church and all her children abid- 
ing here love America with a sacred 
and undying love for the liberty she 
has promised to secure for her. Let 



America also learn to love the Cath- 
olic Church and Catholic Federation 
as the staunchest safeguard of Amer- 
ican liberty. 



Why a Catholic Cannot Be a Citizen 
of the United States. 

By VERY REVEREND F. X. McCABE, C. M., D. D. 

Sufferance, Christianity in the Catacombs — The World Against the Cross — 
Present Day Religious Bigotry and Intolerance — Slander, Vilification — Columbus' 
Trials — Lord Baltimore — Father John Carroll — Charles Carroll — Jack Barry — De- 
Lancy — Shea — The Miles Brothers — Kosciusko — Pulaski — Lafayette — Catholic De- 
velopment — Laymen — Priest and Sister share in Defence, Again—Why Cannot a 
Catholic be a Citizen of the United States? 



The immortal bard puts in the 
mouth of Shylock these words : ' ' For 
sufferance is the badge of all our 
tribe." And well might he have put 
the same words in the mouth of the 
Christian Antonios. To suffer has 
been the lot of Christianity from its 
very beginning. From the moment 
Christ came into the world the power 
of the world was arrayed against Him. 
When He, Eternal Truth, came into 
the world, they nailed Him to an in- 
famous gibbet. Scarcely had the Pen- 
tecostal fires been lighted when the 
world rose up to crush out the life of 
Christianity. For four centuries pa- 
gan imperial Rome used all her physi- 
cal power to crush out the possibility 
of the influence of Christianity, and 
Diocletian, the last of the persecutors, 
swore by all the gods of Rome that 
he would drown the name of Christian 
in Christians' blood. Then Constan- 
tine saw the Cross on heaven's brow 



and immediately made it the standard 
of the imperial legions of Rome. 

Christianity. 

After that followed the proclama- 
tion of religious liberty to all men, and 
Christianity — which is Catholicity, for 
there is no Christianity without Catho- 
licity, and no Catholicity without 
Christianity — came forth from the cata- 
combs to begin its great mission in 
freedom. Pride of intellect and stub- 
bornness of will took up the work of 
persecution where physical force had 
left it off. When the barbarian hordes 
swarmed down on Europe and threat- 
ened to blot out all the civilization of 
the past, the persecutors were too busy 
hiding themselves to bother the 
Church, which stood alone as the only 
organized power in the world capable 
of handling the awful situation. Then 
it was that she, in her strength, rose 
up and, going forth, seized the bridle 



CATHOLICISM AND AMERICANISM. 539 



of their leader's horse and bade him 
and his followers go down on their 
knees in worship before Christ cruci- 
fied. She Christianized them, and she 
laid broad and deep the foundations 
of all that is great and glorious in the 
civilization of our day. These > things 
you will not find in the histories that 
are put into the hands of the children 
in the schools of this, our day. 

Persecutions and Slander. 

Notwithstanding all these things 
that cannot be blotted out when the 
truth is told in the so-called histories 
of the day, persecution has not ceased. 
I know that some will tell me that the 
day of religious bigotry and prejudice 
is passed ; that we are living in a day 
of broader intelligence and, therefore, 
toleration. Such, ladies and gentle- 
men, are words that are heard only 
from the lips of the spineless Catholic, 
the jelly-fish Catholic, the pigeon-liv- 
ered Catholic who is too much of a 
coward to call his soul his own when 
it is going to touch his pocket. 

We are living in an age when individ- 
uals make bold to slander and vilify a 
noble body of women consecrated to 
the great work of turning out boys and 
girls that make the noblest and the 
best in American citizenship — when in- 
dividuals who have never smelled pow- 
der in the defense of this country will 
tell us that because I am a Catholic 
priest, and because you are Catholics, 
we cannot be citizens of the United 
States. We are living in an age when 
our government permits itself to be 
used to spread against sixteen millions 
of her best citizens the vilest slanders, 



and this without even moving a hand 
to protect them from being insulted 
and wronged, in opposition to every- 
thing in which the constitution guar- 
antees to protect them. 

Why? 

I have pondered these things over 
and over again in my thoughts. I 
have wondered why it was that I, a 
Catholic, cannot be a citizen of the 
United States. 

Then I saw the reason, for I was 
carried away to far-off, sunny Italy, 
and there I saw a little child born of 
Catholic parents. I saw him brought 
to the baptismal font and regenerated 
in the water of life. I saw him kneel- 
ing at his Catholic mother's knee, 
learning to lisp the names of Jesus 
and Mary, and later on learning even 
in his childhood the principles that 
were to make him a man of character. 
I saw him entering the service of the 
sea. I saw him standing on the deck 
of his ship looking out over the track- 
less sea, unfurrowed by the prow of 
any ship. I saw his face aglow with 
a holy light as he conceived the thought 
of sailing straight across the broad 
expanse of water to bring the light 
of faith to those living in lands yet 
undiscovered. 

I saw him start upon his journey 
in quest of someone to aid him in the 
carrying out of his plans. I saw him 
enter one court and leave in discour- 
agement, but still determined, he en- 
tered the Spanish court. There he ex- 
plained his plans before the king and 
queen, the Cardinals, Archbishops, 
Bishops, priests and men of the court, 



540 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



who pointed their fingers to their 
heads to express their doubt as to his 
sanity. Spain had fought a constant 
battle of eight hundred years in de- 
fense of the Cross against the Cres- 
cent. Her funds were gone. Spain 
rejected the plans of the dreamer. 

Columbus. 

"Weary, footsore and almost in des- 
pair, he journeyed on, and as he 
walked he heard the bell of the mon- 
astery ring. He came to the door and 
knocked for admission, and a Catholic 
priest, the confessor of the queen, 
opened it to admit him. I heard him 
tell his story and heard the words of 
the good priest: "Son, be of good 
heart. I will speak to the queen, and 
she will hear you again." 

I saw him stand before the Spanish 
queen and her council, and again I 
heard them refuse his request because 
of lack of funds. Then it was I saw 
Isabella, the Catholic — and I use the 
title Catholic with a purpose, because 
the histories of the schools of our land 
refuse to print that title, in which she 
gloried more than in the crown of 
Spain — step from her throne and ut- 
ter these words: "I will pledge my 
jewels that means may be furnished 
for the voyage." 

Then Columbus, the Catholic, aided 
by Isabella, the Catholic, under the 
direction of Father Perez, the Catholic 
priest, in the Santa Maria, under the 
Cross of Christ, and accompanied by 
the Nina and Pinta to the singing of 
the "Salve Regina" evening after 
evening, sailed the unknown seas in 
search of the new land. Mutiny arose 



to make the difficulties all the greater, 
but the faith of Columbus never wav- 
ered. I saw him as he sighted land, 
and again I saw him as he landed and 
cast himself upon his knees at the foot 
of the Cross he had just raised as the 
first standard raised in the new world. 

Columbus, the Catholic, financed by 
Isabella, the Catholic, directed by 
Perez, the Catholic priest, discovered 
my land, and I, because I am a Catho- 
lic, cannot be a citizen of the most 
glorious republic of that land! 

Missionary Zeal. 

The missionaries that came with Co- 
lumbus and the explorers that followed 
him did not believe, as did their Puri- 
tan successors, that "the only good In- 
dian is a dead Indian," but rather that 
the Indian had an immortal soul for 
which Christ died, and, therefore, he 
was to be Christianized and civilized. 
Along the western slope of the Rockies 
to the Pacific, down the valley of the 
Mississippi, all across the southland, 
the Cross could be found and Catholic 
prayer and hymn heard. 

Lord Baltimore. 

Then came the beginning of the col- 
onies. To escape persecution, religious 
and political, men left Europe to seek 
liberty in the new world, and refused 
to others what they themselves were 
seeking. Only when Lord Baltimore 
came to found the colony of Maryland 
was there a place in which all might 
be free to worship according to their 
conscience, through the Catholic Lord 
Baltimore's decree of religious liberty 
within the confines of his colony. Yet 



CATHOLICISM AND AMERICANISM. 641 



I, because I am a Catholic, cannot be 
a citizen of the republic of which this 
colony became a state! 

The Carrolls — Jack Barry. 

When the dark clouds of oppression 
hung low upon the colonies, and New 
England's Puritan narrowness in re- 
gard to the Quebec Act had angered 
the well-intentioned Canadians, it was 
the Catholic priest, Father John Car- 
roll, who accompanied Franklin and 
Chase to obtain Canadian neutrality, 
if not Canadian co-operation. When 
the patriots of 1776 gathered for the 
signing of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence it was the Catholic, Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton, the richest man 
in the colonies, who was ready to sacri- 
fice his all with his fellow-patriots for 
his country. Saucy Jack Barry, whom 
the bigots in the rewriting of the so- 
called history for the schools have tried 
to rob of the title of Father of the 
American Navy — Saucy Jack Barry, 
the Catholic, who never missed the. tar- 
get when it was a British ship — Saucy 
Jack Barry, the Catholic, it was, who, 
when his ship was icebound in the 
Chesapeake and watched closely by the 
British outside, took his men, Catho- 
lics like himself, and marched overland 
until he reached the side of Washing- 
ton to lend a hand in thrashing the 
British. 

When the Conway cabal was formed 
to oust Washington and make Gates 
commander-in-chief, it was the Catho- 
lic, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, then 
on the war board, who foiled them and 
saved Washington as the Father of 
our Country. When Washington was 



going through his Gethsemane at Val- 
ley Forge, your history of today tells 
you that Robert Morris sent him funds 
for his men, but your history does not 
tell you that DeLancy, Shea and the 
Miles brothers, four Irish Catholics, 
gave Morris the fifty-five thousand 
dollars to put shoes on his soldiers' 
feet, food in their stomachs and 
clothes on their backs. 

European Assistance. 

It was Kosciusko, Pulaski and La- 
fayette, all Catholics, that taught our 
Continental army all it knew of mili- 
tary tactics, cavalry practice and fort- 
time. The story of the heroic sacri- 
ification of position. It was Father 
John Carroll, afterwards the first 
Bishop of Baltimore, and Charles Car- 
roll of Carrollton, the Catholics, who, 
by their influence in France, made 
more easy the entree of Franklin into 
the French court to obtain from the 
Catholic king of France Catholic 
money, Catholic soldiers and Catholic 
ships manned by Catholic sailors, that 
made it possible for us to win our in- 
dependence. 

Real History. 

Will your history in the schools 
of today tell you these things? Look 
and see. So I might go on through 
the period of construction and down 
through the Civil war and to our own 
time. The story of the heroic sacri- 
fices of our Sisters in the Civil war and 
the Spanish- American war would take 
a whole evening to relate. In the face 
of all these facts I am told by the 
Guardians of Liberty, whose founder 
and model was the unspeakable 



542 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Benedict Arnold, who tried to sell 
his country to England, that I, or 
any other Catholic, cannot be a citizen 
of the United States. 

The Pawning Type. 

I have no time for the man or men 
who, when some crumb of an appoint- 
ment is handed to one who is a Cath- 
olic, throw up their hats and shout 
hurrah! as if a tremendous favor 
had been done. We ask no favors. 
Our forefathers discovered and ex- 
plored this country. Their minds and 
their brawn helped tremendously in 
its development. There is not an 
undertaking in any of the various 
fields of decent activity today in which 
the mental ability, physical power 
and material wealth of the Catho- 
lics are not to be found united for 
the greater progress of our beloved 
country. Our enemies are the en- 
emies of the republic and its institu- 
tions. Self-respecting and intelligent 
non-Catholics will and do condemn the 
vile methods in use in our day by 
these contemptible cowards, who 
have always been missing in the firing 
line of our country in time of distress. 
Catholic Defenders. 

"When Catholic priests and Sisters 



and soldiers stood shoulder to 
shoulder during the days of the Civil 
war, fighting and ministering on both 
sides for the cause they believed 
to be right, the class to which belong 
the creeping vipers of today beat a 
hasty retreat from the danger zone 
and attracted notice only when en- 
deavoring to cut the throats of those 
noble men and women at the front. 
At that time the voice of the Know- 
Nothing was silent. So, in the days 
of the disreputable A. P. A.'s, when 
the first gun of the Spanish-American 
war was heard, they all scurried to 
shelter, whilst Catholic priests and 
Sisters and soldiers went shoulder to 
shoulder with their non-Catholic fel- 
low citizens to stand the brunt of 
battle and hold aloft the Stars and 
Stripes. 

Rights. 

Now, cannot I, a Catholic, and you, 
Catholics, be citizens of this glorious 
republic? We represent sixteen mil- 
lions out of one hundred millions of 
our population. We ask no favors. 
We demand our constitutional rights, 
and decent, fair-minded, non-Catho- 
lic fellow citizens are ready to join 
with us to see that we get them. 



Charity in America. 

A splendid consideration of this subject, with attention to it as a virtue, was 
given by the Right Reverend Philip R. McDevitt, D. D., Bishop of Harrisburg, Pa., 
at the National Conference of Catholic Charities held in Washington, 1922. Bishop 
McDevitt's address was published in the Catholic Press, from which we reprint. 



"At the font of Baptism, the Cath- 
olic child through its godparents prom- 
ises to renounce the devil and serve 



God. In later years the promise is re- 
newed in Confirmation and is repeated 
time and time again in the Sacraments 



CATHOLICISM AND AMERICANISM. 543 



of Penance and of the Holy Eucharist. 

Because of this declaration of loyalty 
to God, repeated frequently and on 
solemn occasions, Catholic men and 
women have obligations of a twofold 
character, first as individuals and then 
as members of a great organization, 
the Catholic Church ; for every Cath- 
olic is bound to believe that by the 
grace of Baptism he enters into the 
divine institution which Christ founded 
in order to bring to all men the fruits 
of the Redemption. 

"As individuals, Catholics must dis- 
charge the duties of worship and ser- 
vice which rational creatures owe to 
their Creator. As members of an ex- 
ternal and visible body of which the 
Pope is the head, they must fulfill cer- 
tain responsibilities which are over and 
above those that rest upon them as 
individuals. 

' ' Aptly and truthfully it may be said 
that Catholics belong to a family of 
which Christ is the Head and in which 
all the faithful are brothers. They be- 
long to a commonwealth of which 
Christ is the Supreme Ruler and in 
which all Catholics are citizens. As 
loyal members of the family should 
have a deep concern for the good of 
the entire household and as patriotic 
citizens should further the welfare of 
their fellow-countrymen, so worthy 
children of the Church should show a 
sympathetic encouragement of and a 
practical interest in everything that 
bears upon the high mission to which 
the Church is consecrated, the welfare 
and salvation of souls. 

"As the impressive gathering this 



morning of the representatives of the 
Catholic charitable organizations of 
America illustrates concretely the in- 
terest in the affairs of the Church 
which becomes every member thereof, 
I deem it fitting to offer on this occa- 
sion a few thoughts as to the need and 
wisdom of lay co-operation in all that 
the Church is endeavoring to accom- 
plish for humanity, and likewise to ex- 
press the conviction that a more active 
and widespread participation of the 
laity in works of religion, education 
and charity is one of the pressing 
needs today of the Church in America. 

"While giving utterance to this 
opinion, I take it for granted that the 
activities of the laity, which I feel are 
so vital to the interests of the Church 
in these crucial times, shall not deal 
with matters which fall exclusively un- 
der the authority of those whom Christ 
has appointed as rulers in His King- 
dom on earth. I am not unmindful 
that the Catholic Church is a hierarchi- 
cal Church by divine ordinance, that 
the members of the hierarchy, through 
no choice of their own, must rule and 
direct the affairs of the society that 
Christ founded, that the nature of the 
Church cannot be changed, and that 
the spiritual authority of those who by 
divine appointment direct her destinies 
can never be questioned. 

"The recognition of the simple truths 
I have enunciated in no way lessens an- 
other important fact that the Church, 
Catholic and Apostolic, one and holy, 
is the congregation and federation of 
all the faithful ; that Pope, Bishops and 
priests are not the Church. They form 



544 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



one part, and the laity the other part. 
There are in the Church two orders, 
the one ecclesiastical and the other 
lay. Though distinct and separate, 
these two divisions are not independ- 
ent one of the other. The members of 
each division are inseparably asso- 
ciated in the most intimate relation of 
teacher and pupil, of leaders and fol- 
lowers. As the efficiency of an or- 
ganization depends upon the activity 
of the component parts, so the success 
of the Church in fulfilling the purpose 
of her foundation rests not on eccle- 
siastics alone, not on the laity alone, 
but upon Bishops, priests and people 
acting as one, as brothers in Christ, as 
professed followers of Christ, in fur- 
thering the interests of God's Kingdom 
on earth. 

Unity Implies Co-operation. 

' ' In this imperative need for the uni- 
fication of all the elements in the 
Church, one mighty force for good is 
found the first reason for lay co-opera- 
tion. The full significance of this rea- 
son may be understood when it is re- 
called that in the Church, a divine so- 
ciety which is in the world though not 
of it, there are matters of strictly 
hierarchical concern and those which 
are not so. In those subjects which do 
not fall directly and exclusively under 
the spiritual leadership which ecclesi- 
astics hold by virtue of divine man- 
date is afforded the opportunity for the 
service of the laity. 

"A second reason for lay activity is 
the necessity of developing the higher 
and better self of the individual mem- 
bers of the Church's fold. 



"Though it is true that the love of 
God and the love of neighbor for God 's 
sake seek their natural expression in 
service, yet in turn habitual service 
strengthens the virtues that inspired it. 
Virtue grows by what it feeds on. Un- 
selfishness finds its nourishment in un- 
selfish deeds. Generosity waxes strong 
on generous and whole-souled actions. 
Brotherly love and Christian charity, 
the tests of true fellowship with Christ, 
burn more actively in the soul when 
Catholic men and women, either as in- 
dividuals or as members of the Church, 
bear their just burden in the social, 
industrial, intellectual, charitable and 
religious movements that look to the 
protection, the welfare and the better- 
ment of their fellow-Catholics. 

"This participation in good works is 
necessary not only that character may 
be developed, but likewise that it may 
be saved from deterioration. When a 
son of the Church takes no part in the 
spiritual and corporal works of mercy, 
when he neglects to ally himself with 
associations that the Church organ- 
izers or fosters, his faith and loyalty, 
his love of God and neighbor lose their 
vigor and vitality. 

"But the evil consequences that flow 
from the lack of a zealous, enthusi- 
astic and thoroughly loyal Catholic 
spirit and interest in the things that 
look to the betterment of the world re- 
act disastrously not only on the char- 
acter of the selfish and indifferent in- 
dividual, but likewise on the general 
life of the Church. As in the physical 
organism, when muscles are partially 
or totally inactive, the health of the 



FIRST EASTER DAWN. 



Tradition has it that one of the first to whom Our Savior appeared 
after His Resurrection was His Mother. The artist here pictures 
the scene. 



CATHOLICISM AND AMERICANISM. 



545 



whole body is affected, so in the Spir- 
itual Body of Christ — the Church — 
when individual Catholis see nothing 
beyond their personal concerns and 
have no vision of the world mission 
that was announced when Christ said 
to His Apostles : ' Go teach all na- 
tions,' the whole Church suffers the 
penalty in the dimunition of a stirring 
and enthusiastic spirit. 

' ' In addition to the rendering of per- 
sonal service in the works of the 
Church, Catholics should likewise give 
a portion of their earthly goods to aid 
religion, charity and education. Cath- 
olics may not evade their duty in this 
respect. They may not forget that man 
is not the absolute owner of anything 
he possesses ; he is the guardian only. 
Everything he claims as his is lent by 
God for the individual's salvation and 
the good of others. Neither may Cath- 
olics ignore their obligation concern- 
ing the distribution of the things of 
this world. The will of God in this re- 
spect was made known to the Jews of 
old when it was ordained that: 'All 
tithes of the land, whether of corn or 
fruits of the trees, are the Lord's 
and are sanctified unto Him. Of all 
the tithes of oxen and sheep and 
goats that pass under the shepherd's 
rod, every tenth that cometh shall be 
sanctified to the Lord' (Lev. xxvii, 
30, 32). 

What Shall Be Our Standard? 

"God exacted a tithe or a tenth in 
the Old Dispensation in order that man 
might acknowledge the Creator's good- 
ness and recognize His ownership of 
all things. The truth underlying the 



tithe has not lost its force in the New 
Dispensation, for God grants to no one 
a freedom from giving. The only ques- 
tion that can be raised is whether or 
not the standard of the Christian shall 
be above or below that of the Jews 
when the duty of returning thanks to 
God and confessing His supremacy is 
to be fulfilled. 

"With all these truths before us, 
dare we think that Catholics meet the 
requirements of Divine Providence 
who in life and in death return practi- 
cally nothing of their wealth to Al- 
mighty God, the Dispenser of all gifts 1 
Rather is it not a public scandal when 
those whom God has blessed with 
health, strength and prosperity die and 
leave their wealth to relatives and only 
a pittance to charity and education? 
Far better for men and women of this 
character never to have had the goods 
of this world, if their last wills make 
known that the weal and spread of 
the Kingdom of God on earth was no 
concern of theirs. There is fear, in- 
deed, that they who thus forget God's 
claims shall be forgotten by God in the 
hour of their greatest need. Few Cath- 
olics there are who are unable to de- 
vote a portion of their means to char- 
itable purposes. The practice of doing 
so characterized all classes of the 
faithful in the ages of Faith. The his- 
torian of those days when Faith was 
a living reality tells us : 'It was rare — 
very fare — for any man or woman of 
substance enough to make a will not 
to leave some sort of legacy to the 
parish, varying according to the wealth 
or proverty of the testator, from a 



546 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



widow's wedding ring to the greater 
bequests of the well-to-do' (London 
'Tablet,' July 22, 1922). 

"At all times Catholics should ren- 
der the service which membership in 
the Church calls for, but especially in 
our day when the difficulties of the 
Church in carrying out the commis- 
sion of Christ to teach all nations are 
immeasurably increased by the or- 
ganized and persistent attacks of the 
forces of evil against the Church as 
well as against the fundamental prin- 
ciples of Christian truth and morality. 
Neither doctrines nor institutions are 
spared by the present-day teachers of 
error who boldly and defiantly pro- 
claim, with dogmatic finality, that 
churches, creeds, dogmas, ceremonials, 
rituals, public worship are unneces- 
sary that laws and forms of govern- 
ment are useless; that each individual 
is a law unto himself; that the family 
is an obsolete institution; that mar- 
riage is merely a civil contract to be 
observed or violated as the parties 
thereto may decide ; that the State and 
not the parent is the master of the 
child ; that education is exclusively the 
function of the state; that religious 
teaching is out of place in the day 
schools of the country; and that mor- 
ality is something wholly distinct from 
religion. 

Church Sole Safeguard. 

"The Catholic Church, because of 
her divine origin, is the only organ- 
ized force with authority and strength 
sufficiently great to offer effective re- 
sistence to these doctrines, which, if 
logically carried out, would wreck the 



individual, the family and society. 
Nevertheless, though destined to come 
forth unscathed in the battle for truth 
and morality, the Church calls upon 
her children of every class for assist- 
ance in order that she may be the 
more successful in maintaining unim- 
paired the doctrines of Christianity in 
regard to law and order, the integrity 
of the family, the sanctity of marriage, 
the right of the parent to educate his 
child, the freedom of education, the 
necessity of religion in education, and 
the inseparable union of morality and 
religion. Only when her children heed 
her bidding and accord to the Church 
a prompt, generous and enthusiastic 
support is she able to carry out with 
highest success her lofty mission as 
the divinely appointed guardian of 
faith and morals. Unfortunately, 
there are Catholics who, for one rea- 
son or another, remain indifferent to 
the invitation of the Church to take 
an active part in the great work she 
is doing for humanity. Wrapped up 
in their own immediate affairs, they 
seem unaware of the vital fact that 
Christ established a Church and that 
He demands service of every member 
thereof. Were this selfish devotion to 
individual interests universal among 
Catholics of every class, efforts to fur- 
ther the spiritual and temporal prog- 
ress of the world would have little 
fruit. Happily, however, there are 
laymen, priests and religious who rec- 
ognize the duties imposed upon them 
by followship in a divinely established 
organization and who respond to the 
appeal of the Church to help carry on 



CATHOLICISM AND AMERICANISM. 547 



the works of religion, charity and edu- 
cation. But though on every hand 
Catholic laymen are conspicuous for 
their zeal, loyalty and self-sacrifice in 
civic and religious movements, yet the 
fact stands out that the Church is re- 
lying mainly on priests and religious 
in the actual fulfilling of the responsi- 
bilities which are hers as the repre- 
sentative of Christ. 

"The character and extent of this 
dependence of the Church upon cer- 
tain classes of her followers for the 
success of many of her undertakings 
may be learned by a study of the 
Catholic educational system. An ex- 
amination of the institution which is 
shaping the destinies of two millions 
of Catholic children will show that the 
dominant element therein is the self- 
sacrifice of the men and women who 
are devoting their lives to the sublime 
vocation of Christian teachers with 
little compensation other than what is 
barely sufficient for their necessities. 
Because of the inexpensive, though 
highly trained teachers whose services 
Catholic education commands, every 
Catholic school is the beneficiary of a 
sum of money equal to the difference 
between the small salary of the re- 
ligious teachers and the far larger sal- 
ary lay teachers are accustomed to re- 
ceive. "Without this saving, which is 
due to the meagre pay of the men and 
women of the religious orders, it would 
be extremely difficult for Catholic 
schools to maintain an existence, un- 
less through an endowment or large 
and frequent donations. In the light 
of these truths, it is a conservative 



estimate to say that the self-sacrifice 
of our religious lifts from the shoul- 
ders of our Catholic people a substan- 
tial, if not the principal part of the 
burden and expense incurred for the 
maintenance of Catholic education, 
and at the same time assures the con- 
tinued existence of our Catholic 
schools. The truth of this second dec- 
laration would be seen if at any mo- 
ment the men and women of the re- 
ligious orders abandoned their voca- 
tion and returned to their families. 
Lay teachers would be required to take 
the vacant places in the various 
schools. Small salaries would cease, 
because lay teachers could not support 
themselves upon the amount of money 
which the religious are receiving at 
present. It would be unreasonable to 
expect them to do so. A candid and 
serious consideration of the situation 
created by the disappearance of the 
religious from our schools points un- 
mistakably to the conclusion that our 
educational work, practically speaking, 
would come to an end, because of the 
utter hopelessness of securing the 
means amply sufficient to pay for effi- 
cient lay teachers. 

Catholics Unappreciative. 

"It is doubtful that the vast major- 
ity of Catholics appreciate the signifi- 
cance of these startling statements. 
That they do not is because too many 
Catholics fail to note that works of 
charity and education among non- 
Catholics continue because of the serv- 
ice that money pays for, but that the 
same kind of works among Catholics 
continue because of the life-offering of 



548 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



men and women who consecrate them- 
selves unreservedly to the welfare of 
humanity. 

"The more the factors that enter 
into the works of the Church are ex- 
amined, the more clearly it becomes 
evident that the burdens imposed by 
religion, charity and education are not 
evenly distributed among all classes of 
Catholics. The inequality of distribu- 
tion might be overlooked if it were not 
accountable for the lack of men and 
means needed by the Church to spread 
the Kingdom of Christ on earth. The 
corrective of a condition that compels 
the Church to depend upon the few 
rather than on the many and that 
leaves her without adequate resources 
will be applied when the Catholic laity 
manifest a more active and generous 
participation in everything that the 
Church attempts for the good of hu- 
manity, and, furthermore, when they 
put aside the fatal delusion that an 
exclusive devotion to personal affairs, 
together with a simple attendance at 
Mass on Sundays, a perfunctory per- 
formance of a few practices of piety, 
and a studious avoidance of gross sins, 
satisfy the requirements of member- 
ship in the Church of Christ. Only 
when Catholics unite with their breth- 
ren to work good to all men, but es- 
pecially to those who are of the house- 
hold of the Faith (Gal. vi, 10) can 
it be said that they walk worthy of the 
vocation in which they are called (Eph. 
iv, 1). 

"In this plea for the participation 
of the laity in the works of the Church, 
I would express the opinion that their 



part should be not merely a passive 
but an active participation, whereby 
responsibility will be placed upon them 
to bring to a successful conclusion af- 
fairs of great moment that concern not 
only the welfare of the Catholic body 
but of the whole country. 

"But whilst urging a policy, the 
carrying out of which will make the 
laity more keenly sensitive of their 
obligations as members of the Church, 
perhaps I should speak the word of 
advice that the service which Catholic 
men and women render in order that 
the Church may function properly 
and effectively must find its inspira- 
tion not in benevolence, in philan- 
thropy, in condescension, in paternal- 
ism or fraternalism, but in the love 
of God and the love of one's fellow- 
men for God's sake. Money shall hold 
a small part in the service, which shall 
consist chiefly of the thought, interest, 
loyalty, co-operation, mind, talent, and 
whatever one has to give according to 
his station, education and influence for 
the welfare of the great organization 
itself, and for the well-being of all its 
members who need comfort, protection, 
instruction and guidance in the social, 
industrial and moral spheres. 

Awakening in America. 

"It is a consolation and a gratifica- 
tion to know that within the last dec- 
ade, in particular, there has been a 
wondrous awakening in America to 
the imperative need for the laity to 
take part in the works of religion, 
charity and education, and thus dis- 
charge the duty which is theirs as in- 



CATHOLICISM AND AMERICANISM. 549 



tegral parts of the great Catholic 
Church. 

"Not less gratifying than the radi- 
cal change in the laity in regard to 
their responsibilities as members of the 
Church have been the evidences that 
parochialism and diocesanism, which 
see little beyond merely local inter- 
ests, are yielding place to that truly 
Catholic spirit which gives life, vigor 
and power to the glorious organization 
which Christ founded for the salva- 
tion of the world, a Church eloquently 
pictured by one not of her fold as : 

" 'A vast community that spreads 
from Andes to the Indus ; that has bid 
defiance to the vicissitudes of fifteen 
centuries, and adorned herself with the 
genius and virtues of them all; that 
beheld the transition from ancient to 
modern civilization, and itself forms 
the connecting link between the Old 
"World in Europe and the New; the 
missionary of the nations, the asso- 
ciate of history, the patron of art, the 
vanquisher of the sword' (James 
Martineau: A Biography and Study, 
p. 53). 

"In bringing about those momen- 
tous changes, the meetings such as the 
one which opens this morning have 
been important factors. Accurately 
and dispassionately the distinguished 
and honored head of the Catholic uni- 
versity, at your annual meeting in 
1916, dwelt upon the far-reaching ef- 
fects of these national assemblies. He 
declared : 

' ' ' The National Conference of Cath- 
olic Charities has definitely closed the 
old parochial epoch of isolation and 



has opened an era to be governed by 
our new national outlook and the in- 
spirations that come from it. * * * 
It has tended greatly to correct ex- 
tremes of conservatism and radicalism 
by setting forth clearly and temper- 
ately the Catholic spirit and traditions 
of relief work, and by endeavoring to 
absorb all that is wholesome and ap- 
proved in modern philanthropy. * * * 
It has provided a place where the 
charity of Christ may meet scholarship 
and experience, and it traces the path- 
way along which all three may walk 
hand in hand toward the better day 
for which we hope' (Fourth National 
Conference of Catholic Charities, 1916, 
pp. 59, 60, 61). 

"Surely the results accomplished 
within a few years by the National 
Conference of Catholic Charities war- 
rant the hope that the present and fu- 
ture gatherings of those who repre- 
sent what is best in Catholic man- 
hood and Catholic womanhood will, in 
God's providence, radiate and influ- 
ence throughout the laity of this great 
Church of America, making them 
strong where they are weak, zealous 
where they are indifferent, and united 
where they are divided. When this 
consummation we hope and pray for 
shall have been reached, then the 
Catholic Church, in theory and in fact, 
will be the congregation of all the 
faithful in which no member will 
weary of doing good, especially to 
those of the household of the Faith, 
and where all will walk worthy of the 
vocation wherewith they are called. 
This vocation to membership in the 



550 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Catholic Church is a high privilege in- 
deed. It is a high calling that has its 
duties no less than its rights. It is a 

Civic 

The brilliant utterances of the fore- 
going writers emphasize the belief and 
practice among Catholics concerning 
duties of citizenship. Our country's 
need and its service yields place in our 
concerns only to our attitude towards 
God, and we are firmly convinced that 
God wants us to serve our country at 
all times well and faithfully. 

Catholics are well instructed on this 
point in their catechism as children, 
in later counsels adapted to their years. 
Our duties are outlined in other fea- 
tures of this volume, viz. : "The Cath- 
olic Vote," "Citizenship," "Should 
Women Vote," and examples drawn 
from service to our country during the 
war and at other times. 

Priests do not take part in politics, 
as a rule. There is no question of the 
moment which finds them as partisans. 
Whatever views they may hold as citi- 
zens, they are careful to hold the same 
as private opinions. It is not on rec- 
ord that Catholics ever heard a priest 
use the pulpit for exposition of views 
on a purely political question. No- 
body can recall that his pastor ever 
there urged him to vote on such an is- 
sue. The Catholic clergy preach the 
Word of God from the altar. Political 
questions have no place in the sanc- 
tuary. 

It is unknown in our country for a 



vocation of service, the service of God 
and the service of our fellows in God's 
Holy Name." 



Faith 

priest to become a political leader. So, 
too, was this true of priests in other 
countries until certain crises brought 
out the need for unusual abilities and 
well-defined qualities of leadership, 
added to a feeling of public confidence 
in one tried and tested. Since the war 
such emergencies have arisen. The 
necessities of the period found certain 
European countries in doubt. Their 
political leaders had been found want- 
ing. They turned here and there 
seeking leaders. Failure followed fail- 
ure. Meanwhile their country suf- 
fered. 

In such a crisis what was more natu- 
ral than to turn to one in whom public 
confidence rested, whose self-sacrifice 
was known, who had all necessary 
qualifications for leadership. Such 
men have been found by several Eu- 
ropean countries in the stress that fol- 
lowed on reconstruction work. In the 
ranks of the clergy were leaders of 
national reputation, whose abilities 
were widely known. 

The conference held by the powers 
of Europe at Genoa in 1921 strikingly 
demonstrated this fact. An obscure 
priest became the guest of honor 
among the world's notables. His opin- 
ions on international problems were 
sought by representatives of the fore- 
most nations. His views were put into 



CATHOLICISM AND AMERICANISM. 551 



practice. His advice was heralded 
abroad, and the world's best minds 
acclaimed the wisdom of his words. 

It is consideration of the careers of 
such men that we here offer. It will 
be understood that they, while fulfill- 
ing their destiny, serving their country 
in unusual capacity, do not forget 
their real vocation. While the world 
acclaims their genius they go about 
the daily routine of priestly require- 
ments. When the need for their tal- 
ents has passed they will return again 
to the humble roles from which they 
have arisen to world prominence. Each 
took his place in public notice with 
the permission of his Bishop. His 
obedience to Church authorities will 
bring him again to the humble capac- 
ity in which he first inspired confi- 
dence. 

The history of the Church has 
shown us many such priests in bygone 
years. Lest this generation fail in due 
recognition of those to whom Europe 
in the days following the war turned 
for aid in dire extremity we offer 
readers of this volume brief sketches 
of their lives. 

It is but fitting that we begin with 
a review of the life of the priest to 
whom we referred in preceding para- 
graph as having attracted world-wide 
attention at the Genoa peace confer- 
ence of nations. 

Dom Sturzo. 

A great power in the political life 
of Italy, a leader whose views are con- 
sidered of great importance at the 
Genoa conference, is Dom Sturzo, a 
priest of Caltagirone, a village in 



Sicily, where he was born over fifty 
years ago. 

Twenty years ago, Father Luigi 
Sturzo, then a young priest, organized 
the working people of his community 
with the idea of liberating municipali- 
ties from political rule. 

In 1905, he was elected mayor of the 
village and held this office until 1920. 

Father Sturzo, at Genoa, favored 
establishment of a kind of European 
federation, based on the principles of 
brotherly love, conciliation and co-op- 
eration. 

In all leaders for world betterment 
he has had listeners eager for his views 
on the necessity of a "political inter- 
national " based on international as- 
pirations much loftier and broader 
than anything the world has yet seen. 

Father Sturzo is regarded by his 
countrymen as a true Apostle. He is 
the leader of an increasingly important 
party in national affairs — the Catholic 
or popular party, which he organized. 

Austria's Priest Premier. 

Among the world's greatest leaders 
in the reconstruction days of Europe, 
in a country perhaps more severely 
tried by adversity than any other, was 
one man, a priest, who, where all oth- 
ers had failed, succeeded in bringing 
order out of terrible chaos. 

Austria's problems, numerous and 
critical, and each of them a matter al- 
most of life and death, were most com- 
plicated for the new Chancellor, Mon- 
signor Ignatz Seipel, leader of the 
Christian Social party. When Chan- 
cellor Schober resigned his office, the 
Socialist press was the first to urge 



552 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



that Monsignor Seipel, leader of Au- 
strian Catholics, take charge of the 
country 's affairs. More marvelous still, 
the Jewish papers, which are ordinar- 
ily most virulent in their persecution 
of Catholic priests, respectfully ap- 
proved Dr. Seipel's appointment to 
the post of Chancellor. 

Born in Vienna, 46 years ago, Dr. 
Seipel is a perfect Catholic priest, 
simple in his mode of life, a splendid 
objective and moderate speaker, prac- 
tical and powerful as an organizer, and 
recognized even by his adversaries as 
a sincere patriot. Having completed 
his theological studies in Vienna uni- 
versity, Dr. Seipel for a few years did 
pastoral work and then became a pro- 
fessor of moral theology in the Salz- 
burg faculty of divinity. In 1916 he 
received a call to the Vienna univer- 
sity as successor to the famous theo- 
logian, Monsignor Franz Schindler. 

Holland's Diplomat. 

One of Europe's small countries is 
Holland. Not directly concerned in 
the World war, the position of its peo- 
ple during long years of conflict was 
exceedingly precarious. Efforts of 
diplomats on both sides of battle were 
at times concentrated to involve Hol- 
land, seeking the advantages that of- 
fered. Much pressure in various ways 
was brought to bear upon this intrepid 
people. Dissensions among certain 
parts of the population were freely 
sown. It was a difficult course for the 
nation's leaders to steer safely through 
tempest of strife. 

In this crisis of Holland's history 
the man who exercised no small 



amount of influence in stilling the 
alarms of the populace, and inspiring 
them with confidence was a priest, 
Monsignor Nollens. Known to them for 
his abilities through many preceding 
years it is, however, safe to say that 
he rose to the real greatness of his 
talents during the war and since. 

The world acclaimed him as one of 
its powerful leaders, its most skillful 
diplomats. His own nation honored 
him with many opportunities in which 
he shared honors with the greatest, 
particularly being a tour on a diplo- 
matic mission to America, in which 
he received unusual attention. He 
conducted himself with the poise of a 
natural leader of men and at the same 
time with a quiet simplicity of bearing 
as much at home with his associates 
as at any time with his friends among 
the clergy. 

A Leader in Ireland. 

The story of experiences in Ireland 
in the period that led up to "Erin's 
Tragic Easter," and continued in the 
later movement for recognition among 
the nations will not be complete with- 
out attention to the life and work of 
Rev. Michael 'Flanagan. 

How, as a young priest, he became 
identified with national movements of 
progress will ever remain as a trib- 
ute to his zeal, energy and abilities. 
Prominent in the effort to preserve and 
develop Ireland's national industries, 
he was the first to show other countries 
the particular advantages of Irish 
trade and commerce. In this behalf 
he headed a commission which, by 
practical demonstration in many cities 



CATHOLICISM AND AMERICANISM. 553 



of America, taught the world the beau- 
ties of Irish lace manufacture. 

The days that followed the war 
found Father O 'Flanagan a leader in 
the movement for independence. He 
was elected vice president of the Irish 
Republic. He continued for years in 
that capacity, which meant much more 
than the office usually holds for its 
incumbent, since the president, Eamon 
de Valera, was forced temporarily into 
exile. All through these years, when 
the Republic functioned most admir- 
ably despite Black and Tan opposition 
and other methods aimed at discredit 
of their control, Father 'Flanagan's 
influence was readily apparent. His 
followers were many. Their confi- 
dence in him was universal and often 
expressed, and he continued to the end 
an influence for good, satisfied only 
to serve his country as it was given 
him to do. 

Industrial Leaders. 

Priests who find occupation in ser- 
vice along industrial lines are more 
numerous than as leaders in other 
forms of civic affairs. Just as Father 
'Flanagan first found opportunity in 
promotion of his nation's industries, 
so, in other countries are priests active 
and helpful. Their special form of en- 



deavor is for the benefit of mankind. 
They are trained specialists in their 
work. Often they are practical men 
with actual experience in the work 
which attracts their best effort. 

A striking example of this form of 
priestly work is the Reverend John 
A. Ryan, D. D., of the Catholic Uni- 
versity of Washington. There is no 
higher authority in America on indus- 
trial problems than Dr. Ryan. His 
pronouncements are those of an expert, 
whose views have formed the basis of 
much helpful industrial legislation. 
His efforts are turned in the direction 
of remedial effort and many states now 
know his recommendations in laws 
covering minimum wages for workers, 
conditions for women and children, 
who are employed, and other features. 

Dr. Ryan's writings have done more 
in recent years to sweep away the fal- 
lacies of Socialism than, perhaps, any 
other authority. He has, on several 
occasions, been singled out for attack, 
but always rallies to his defense of 
position a strength of argument and 
a wealth of logic that has proved in- 
vincible. His public debate with Mor- 
ris Hillquit, a prominent Socialist, de- 
veloped into a masterpiece of defense 
of Church attitude on industrial prob- 
lems. 



The Flag- -a Tribute 

By VERY REVEREND F. X. McCABE, C. M., D. D. 

beautiful banner, with your bril- flows in our American Catholic hearts, 
liant stars in a sky of blue, with your and your stripes of white, typical of 
stripes of red, typical of the blood that the purity and nobility of our Catbo- 



554 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



lie American msnhood and woman- 
hood, if ever again there must be the 
necessity of carrying you before the 
battle line and dying that you may 
continue to wave "o'er the land of 
the free and the home of the brave," 
your Catholic men will grasp the sword 
and shoulder the rifle and man your 
ships, and stand shoulder to shoulder 
with their fellow-citizens of every 



creed; and your Catholic women will 
follow, as of old, as ministering 
angels, working with their sisters of 
every faith. And when the smoke 
of battle has cleared away, we shall 
behold you, 0, flag of the stars and 
stripes, floating in peace side by side 
with and in the strength of Christian- 
ity's emblem, the Cross of Christ. 



Bibliography. 

Our Favorite Novenas, Lings; Our Favorite Devotions, Lings; 
St. Rita, Lady Herbert; Indulgences, Comerford; The Raccolta; 
Meditations, Chaignon; Spiritual Life, Maturin; Novena Book, 
O'Gorman; Mariolatry, Ganss; Lourdes, Clark; Our Lady in the 
Liturgy, Barrett; Celebrated Sanctuaries of the Madonna; Answers 
to Objections, De Segur; Characteristics of True Devotion, Grou; 
Annals of St. Anne de Beaupre; Catholic Dictionary, Addis and 
Arnold; Catholic Practice at Church and at Home, Klauder; 
Correct Thing for Catholics, Bugg; Does It Matter?, Otten. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

Woman's Place in the Church 



Women Among Early Christians — In Religious Orders — Christ and the Home 
— Women's Debt to Catholicity — Woman's Power — Should Women Vote? — 
Investments — Great Women — The Greatest Woman — Women Traveling. 



Woman has always held a promin- 
en place in religious history. In the pa- 
gan rites, woman was held pre-emi- 
nent in all that was good, beautiful 
and tender. She was supremely in- 
fluential. She tended the altar-fires. 
She had her place beside the priest. 
The vestal virgins ranked with royalty 
in all public assemblages. She was 
even worshiped in the temples, and 
homage was paid to her divinity in 
martial triumphs and in the public 
games. Everywhere there is evidence 
of that invincible weapon which na- 
ture has placed in her hands for ap- 
proaching and controlling men — the 
beautiful weapon, affection, which 
mother, wife, sister, daughter wield. 

In the religious history of the Jews, 
woman is equally prominent. Two 
books of the old Testament were 
written in her exaltation, Ruth and 
Esther. Patriarchs acknowledge wo- 
man's influence, and she is found 
constantly exercising a recognized 
power in religious affairs. Anna 



served God night and day. Sara is 
mentioned as a model spouse, and the 
Church has since honored her by en- 
shrining her name and her virtues 
in the marriage service. Miriam, 
Ruth and Naomi, the widow of Sa- 
repta, others too numerous to men- 
tion, are honored in Holy writ. 

Woman Among Early Christians. 

The reverence and affection with 
which the sacred writers speak of the 
Virgin Mary are surely evidences of 
the place she held in the hearts of 
her Divine Son's followers. Volumes 
could be written of her influence, in 
her silent unassuming way, upon the 
Apostles. The women who followed 
our Lord were singularly heroic. 
Their associations with the Apostles 
are likewise mentioned, and it is sig- 
nificant that they never denied or 
betrayed Christ. St. Paul commends 
the women who labored with him in 
spreading the Gospel. Lois and Eu- 
nice, mother and grandmother of 



556 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Timothy, were the ones who first 
taught him the Christian truths. The 
second epistle of St. John was written 
to a woman. Contemporaneous with St. 
Paul was Thecla, held in great ven- 
eration by associates. St. Prisca, St. 
Agatha, St. Agnes, St. Catherine of 
Alexandria, scores of other women 
suffered martyrdom during the early 
centuries. St. Mary of Egypt spent 
twenty-seven years in isolation. St. 
Bridget, of Ireland, had her first ceil 
in an oak tree. The empress Helen, 
mother of Constantine, was active in 
restoring churches. St. Elizabeth, 
queen of Hungary, and Alice, empress 
of Germany, showed the power of re- 
ligion in their administration of 
affairs. 

Women in Religious Orders. 

In the religious orders, religion as 
an influence with which to bring out 
woman's administrative ability is 
clearly shown. It is impossible to ex- 
aggerate the influence of the Catholic 
sisterhood upon society. All human 
nature bows in respectful homage to 
those women who have given up all 
to serve Christ. If woman had done 
nothing in the household for the 
Church if she had been indifferent 
as a wife and incompetent as a 
mother; if, in the world, the sex 
was frivolous and vain; if there had 
been nothing done for religion ex- 
cept that which is being done by 
woman "out of the world," Chris- 
tianity would still have been the 
gainer, and civilization would still 
owe woman a vast debt because of 



what the sisters have done in their 
varied channels of activity. 

The catalogue of eminent foundres- 
ses is too long for more than a pass- 
ing reference. St. Elizabeth antici- 
pated the sisters of the Good Shep- 
herd in her work among fallen women. 
The foundress of the Poor Clares was 
the daughter of a nobleman, yet she 
practiced the strictest austerities. 
St. Jane Frances de Chantal, found- 
ress of the sisters of the Visitation, 
Mother Seton of our sisters of Char- 
ity, Catherine McAuley of the sisters 
of Mercy, Blessed Mother Berat of 
the Congregation of the Sacred Heart, 
Nano Nagle of the sisters of the Pre- 
sentation and all those brave holy and 
zealous women who are today con- 
ducting their respective communities 
in every part of the world are il- 
lustrations of the sacrifices which 
made martyrs in the old days. The 
delicately reared women who left 
their homes in far-off Europe to 
come to a strange land, among the 
tribes of savage Indians to lay the 
foundation for the busy commun- 
ities, which today exercise such un- 
bounded influence over this country, 
were brave and energetic, but the real 
story of all the sacrifices undergone 
by women in this country is buried 
in convent archives, and the modest 
keepers shun publicity. "Whether the 
effort has begun with teaching the 
child at the mother's knee, or whether 
it was delayed for further instruction 
from the sisters in the schools, always 
woman has been active in the mental 
progress of the race. 



WOMAN'S PLACE IN THE CHURCH. 



557 



And the ever-increasing demand for 
more scholarly training finds them 
always ready, prepared to give the 
best education available for either 
sex, prepared, to serve God in any 
other works of charity which their 
devotion suggests. 

Christ and the Home. 

What was the effect of Christian 
teaching on the home, the family, 
the standing of women? The Roman 
wife in pagan times, was little better 
than a slave. Her legal position was 
extremely low; her claims were ac- 
knowledged or repudiated according 
to the passion or caprice of her hus- 
band. The Roman family was institu- 
ted on the principle of absolute author- 
ity vested in the head; wife and chil- 
dren were his chattels, to dispose of a^ 
he willed; "In some cases he had the 
right to put his wife to death," his- 
tory tell us. 

As a result of this absolute control 
on the man's part, and absolute sub- 
jection of woman to his will, profli- 
gacy possessed society, vice in every 
form was rampant ; and below the 
ranks of the higher classes was a 
multitude of enslaved nameless poor, 
abject in their poverty and wretch- 
edness, steeped in moral degradation. 
Then was performed the miracle of 
redemption. Above the pleading of 
the wife, thrust dishonored from her 
home for no just cause, was heard 
the voice of the Church: "This 
woman is your lawful wife, you may 
not put her from you; these children 
have immortal souls, you may not 
barter them as things of commerce." 



And when the warning was unheeded, 
measures were taken to enforce the 
rights of the wife and the mother, 
to protect the interests of the home. 
The Christian doctrine on marriage 
is very simple— "One with one ex- 
clusively and forever," and the 
Church with invincible firmness com- 
pelled acceptance of this doctrine. 
From St. Peter to the present visible 
Head of the Church on earth there 
was never a deviation from this 
fundamental principle that alone can 
preserve the sanctity and integrity 
of family life. Church synods occu- 
pied themselves with forming laws to 
maintain the sanctity of marriage, 
the education of children, the peace of 
the household. Popes and Bishops 
sought redress for the oppressed and 
wronged. "In fact," says Dr. Grisar 
in his "History of Rome and the 
Popes," "general life work and public 
action were hedged round with 
protective legislation." 

Woman's Debt to Catholicity. 

From the earliest ages of the Church, 
Catholics have been urged to take that 
place in the civil and social life around 
them which a practical application of 
the principles of their Faith would 
point out — that by so doing they 
might assist, according to the mea- 
sure of their abilities, in spreading 
the influence of Catholic ideais 
amongst the generations that are 
growing up indifferent or hostile to 
the Christian religion. 

Catholic women, in particular, are 
encouraged to fill that position in life 
which it is their duty to fill, and to 



558 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



utilize the talent of Faith which God 
gave them. A great and useful task 
lies before them. They can present 
an historical Catholic point of view 
which is forgotten usually in dealing 
with modern problems. We hear of 
plans for the prevention of disease 
and destitution, of schemes for cloth- 
ing and feeding the poor and educat- 
ing them, wherein religion, the main 
factor in all progress either of the 
individual or of the community, is 
absolutely ignored. And nothing but 
the development of Christian princi- 
ples in social work will ever accomp- 
lish anything of definite value in these 
problems of the age. 

Woman's Power. 

In the days in which we live we 
must act, and we must Christianize 
the world. To communicate right 
views, this is the duty of Christian 
women. Woman's is the greatest 
power on earth, after the divinely 
founded Church of God. And the 
fulcrum and lever by which woman 
can, if she will, move the world, are 
inspiration and prayer. This is the 
secret of the power exercised by the 
greatest of women either in the 
world or in the cloister. 

It is the want of religion which 
makes the restless, almost unnatural 
woman of whom we read to-day. One 
who seeks the rules of her conduct 
far from the principles of Christian- 
ity is always restless, striving after 
unattainable things, and by her law- 
less methods frequently bringing the 
work of woman into disrepute. The 
average woman is opposed to violence 



and militancy. Catholic women in 
particular should make a stand 
against such methods, realizing as 
they must realize the debt owed to 
Christianity. With Jesus there was no 
question of superiority or inferiority 
in the sexes, and such should not be- 
come an issue to-day. 

To describe in detail the vast pos- 
sibilities of social work on the part of 
Catholic women is impossible, said 
Cardinal Gibbons. They may, never- 
theless, be summed up briefly and 
adequately in three comprehensive 
words which should be inscribed in 
letters of gold upon the banner of 
every Catholic women's association. 
They come from the lips of the Holy 
Father himself: Religious Education, 
Charity, Sacrifice — here is the epitome 
of woman's social duties as given them 
by the Supreme Pontiff during the 
convention of the International Fed- 
eration of Catholic women, held at 
Rome. It perfectly expresses the 
threefold ideals of woman's social 
activity. 

There can be no doubt whatever 
that woman owes her present position 
of honor— her evolution from the mere 
slavery of Pagan times — to Christian- 
ity, to the Catholic Church, which 
teaches that it is a woman, the 
Blessed Virgin-Mother of God, who 
stands next below the deity and above 
all creatures, even the Archangels 
themselves. The Catholic cult of Mary 
Immaculate has raised the general 
status of womanhood, as in the cases 
of individuals it has greatly bettered 
each Catholic woman who called on 



WOMAN'S PLACE IN THE CHURCH. 



559 



God's Mother with true love and 
trust. 

Should Women Vote? 

The answer is plainly, yes. Where 
the franchise is granted them, Catho- 
lic women may and should make use 
of it. Bishops have urged their flocks 
to take advantage of the vote, to be 
regular in using it and to exercise 
care in the selection of candidates 
for election. If Catholic women want 
to fight "all the sources of evil," as 
the suffragist campaign literature has 
it, in this way, why theirs is the 
opportunity. If the Catholic suffra- 
gist believes "votes for women," to 
be merely a political issue, she is free 
to act as she will. If she admits there 
is a religious and a moral issue to it, 
as there is, she cannot consistently 
take sides with any party, whose aim 
and ambitions are at variance with 
the teaching of the Catholic Church. 

But women must not forget that the 
franchise has been in use for a great 
many years, and that abuses still con- 
tinue. The much vaunted intelligence 
and purity of women is very likely 
to suffer from contagion with the 
ballot. The devil is not one bit afraid 
of any woman or any body of women 
who fight him with merely human 
weapons. Women are subject to the 
same temptations as men, and their 
advent into political life should be 
made in fear and trembling. The 
temptations offered Eve long ago are 
to be found in the flattery accorded 
the suffragists by the various political 
parties. The old story of "God-like 
power," used by the serpent, the lure 



of the "Knowledge of good and 
evil," is extended them now, and 
the Eves are busy trampling poor 
stupid blundering Adam's "tyranny," 
under foot in the rush to the polling 
place. 

There is only one woman whose in- 
fluence the devil fears; only one 
whose purity blinds him, whose in- 
tellect confounds him, over whose im- 
maculate soul he never held sway, 
Mary, Virgin-Mother of Christ. Let 
the Catholic woman, who yearns to 
fight "the forces of evil," emulate 
Mary, the second great mother of 
humanity, not Eve, the first. Satan 
hesitates at the threshold of a good 
home. The influence of a good woman 
in her own home confounds him there, 
but nowhere else. 

Investments. 

It is, of course, beyond the scope 
of this volume to consider, or to offer, 
advice to women about investments. 
There is no intention of doing this. 
Yet, comment upon recent develop- 
ments may be helpful as warning in 
places where women may lack experi- 
enced advisers. 

Bucket shops and financial swind- 
lers have, within recent years, de- 
frauded the investors of America to 
the extent of more than $6,000,000,000, 
according to the New York correspond- 
ent of the Washington (D. C.) Post. 
Investigation by the Post's corres- 
pondent develops the fact that an 
amount in excess of $750,000,000 was 
extracted from green investors by 
sharpers during 1921. If these fig- 
ures are to be accepted as anywhere 



560 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



near accurate, it means a per capita 
loss for every man, woman and child 
in the United States of about $7 for 
the year. "Bucket shop" operations 
are blamed for much of this. 

A vigorous campaign has been 
launched by organizations of legiti- 
mate bankers and brokers to blot out 
this canker in the financial system of 
the country. 

The method of operation of the 
bucket shops are varied and interest- 
ing. The story of their activities as- 
told by a financial expert disclosed 
adventures with other people's money 
as romantic as fiction. He said: 

Bucket Shops. 

"A bucket shop is a financial house 
which conducts a fictitious business in 
securities. Stocks or bonds are seldom 
purchased on orders from clients. 
Partners in these firms try to outguess 
the public on the movement of the 
market, and usually do. For this rea- 
son, when a client places an order the 
broker merely makes a bookkeeping 
entry to that effect. When the entry 
shows the customer's money has been 
lost, according to market quotations, 
the client is notified to put up more 
for margin or be wiped out. 

"A bucket shop is seldom connoc.ed 
with the stock exchange. To buy 
stocks listed on the exchange, the 
bucketeer has to give an order to an 
exchange member. This means that 
he sacrifices all commissions on the 
deal. Therefore, as an inducement to 
the public, a bucket shop usually in- 
forms clients it does not charge more 
than six per cent on debit balances 



growing out of marginal purchases, no 
matter how high the call money rate 
goes. They are able to do this be- 
cause the customer has never held any 
stock or had a debit balance. 

"One good indication that a broker- 
age firm is a bucket shop is the re- 
fusal of the stock exchange to grant 
a permit for a stock ticker. "When a 
brokerage firm wants a stock ticker, 
application must be made to the quota- 
tion committee of the exchange. If 
they show a clean bill of financial 
health they are considered above sus- 
picion, they are granted permission to 
use a ticker. Otherwise they are re- 
fused, and a refusal generally means 
that something is wrong somewhere. 

"Where a house is granted a ticker 
and the exchange later learns business 
is not being conducted on the level, 
the machine is ripped out without de- 
lay. 

"Some bucket shops have a policy 
of buying about one-third of the se- 
curities ordered by customers. This is 
done for protection in case of an un- 
expected visit by the authorities. In 
case securities they are supposed to be 
holding for clients are demanded, they 
can, in this way, show part of them 
and claim the remainder have been 
placed as collateral on loans." 

Great Women. 

The point of view of the compiler of 
any list of men or women worthy of 
being classed as great, necessarily 
plays a large part and is reflected in 
his selection. 

Since H. G. Wells named his six 
greatest history-making men, in reply 




JESUS AND THE LITTLE CHILDREN 



H 
H 



is love for the children was many times demonstrated. Here is illustrated 
is request: "Suffer little children to come unto Me and forbid them not." 



WOMAN'S PLACE IN THE CHURCH. 



561 



to a magazine writer's question, end- 
less discussions have been provoked. 
Lists longer and shorter than Wells' 
of the world's greatest men have been 
made and tossed into the field. And 
since the point of view is all-important 
no agreement has been reached, nor 
ever can be. Nor is this at all regret- 
table. 

During the Pan-American Confer- 
ence of Women, held in Baltimore, 
Senorita Graciala Mandujano, the del- 
egate representing Chili, having in 
mind a series of articles for the Chilian 
newspapers, asked the National League 
of Women Voters to tell her who Am- 
erica's twelve greatest women are. In- 
stantly the furor created by Wells ' list 
was eclipsed by that raised by the 
Senorita 's innocent question. 

Women prominent in social work, 
law, medicine, education, literature, 
art, music and the drama have been 
acclaimed "greatest." A few names 
appear on many lists, and it is signifi- 
cant of the trend of to-day's thought, 
which, in spite of pessimistic croakers, 
is humanitarian, that these repeated 
names are of those who have had the 
good of others as an end. 

Dr. James J. Walsh, holding that 
this "service" the crucial test, in mak- 
ing his list confines himself to women 
in the religious life. He cites Mother 
Seton, foundress of the Sisters of Char- 
ity; her daughter, Sister Irene, who 
founded the New York Foundling 
Home ; Mother Cabrini, who, though of 
Italian birth, organized in America, 
hospitals, orphan asylums and schools 
for Americans of Italian descent as 



well as Italian birth ; Mother Amadeus, 
head of the Ursulines who volunteered 
for service in the Alaskan missions 
among the Eskimos ; Mother Alphonse, 
0. S. D., known to the literary world as 
Rose Hawthorne Lathrop, daughter of 
Nathaniel Hawthorne, but loved by the 
cancer-afflicted poor as foundress of 
the Servants of Relief; and Mother 
Mary Francis Warde, whose founda- 
tions in America of the Communities 
of the Sisters of Mercy, from the year 
1843, when with seven Sisters (one, a 
postulant) she came from the Convent 
in Carlow to meet the urgent need of 
Pittsburgh, until her death in 1883, 
numbered twenty-three. From Pitts- 
burgh Mother Francis had journeyed 
in every direction, going as far north 
as Maine, then south to Florida and 
west to California and this in spite of 
the wretched traveling facilities avail- 
able in pioneer days. Hospitals, or- 
phanages, homes for poor girls, and 
night schools, in addition to academies 
and day schools, were inaugurated in 
three, often four widely separated 
states within one twelvemonth of 
many of those fruitful years. 

From the nature of things, it is in- 
cumbent on us, as thinking Catholics 
to accept Dr. Walsh's list, with no 
omissions. After all, a true American 
is a believer in America's possibilities 
and a worker for her welfare, temporal 
or spiritual. The fact then of foreign 
birth, particularly in the case of Moth- 
er Cabrini and Mother Mary Francis 
Warde, does not detract from their 
eligibility. 

Going farther, however, for but six 



562 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



"greatest" women have been named, 
we would add Mother Katherine 
Drexel, foundress and Superior of the 
Community of the Sisters of the Bless- 
ed Sacrament, whose efforts to reach 
the colored people and Indians of 
America have met with such marked 
success. 

Next Mother Mary Agatha O'Brien, 
the postulant who came from Carlow 
with Mother Francis Warde, in 1843 
and three years later in September 
1846, accepted the responsibilities of 
the first Superior of the Sisters of 
Mercy in Chicago, and, therefore, also 
head of the first permanent religious 
house in Illinois. The Visitation Or- 
der had been established previously in 
Kaskaskia, but after ten years of work, 
a disastrous flood destroyed the con- 
vent and the Sisters were forced to 
abandon that mission and remove to 
St. Louis. 

Being not at all afraid of being ac- 
cused of possessing too much civic 
pride, and going into the fields of 
poetry and art, we find Eliza Allen 
Starr, convert, poet, artist and lectur- 
er, whose harmonious, busy life in Chi- 
cago, from 1856 until 1901, certainly 
left its cultural impress upon the grow- 
ing city. Miss Starr received the Lae- 
tare Medal from Notre Dame Uni- 
versity in 1885, as an appreciation of 
her services to Catholic Art and Lit- 
erature. Her charming home, on Hu- 
ron street, with its lily carved in stone 
at the outer corner, symbolic of its 
patron St. Joseph, was, perhaps, al- 
though she did not so term it, the first 
social centre in Chicago. Her door 



with its antique brass knocker swung 
always open, and artist, sculptor, poet, 
writer and thinker were welcomed to 
the homelike room through whose win- 
dows one could catch a glimpse of the 
tabernacle light in the cathedral, by 
whose glimmer Miss Starr once said 
she loved to say her Bosary "when it 
was too dark to paint or sew or read, 
and too early for lights." 

Recalling the Laetare Medal 
awarded to Eliza Allen Starr, Eleanor 
C. Donnelly, who was also thus 
honored, is suggested for our list. 

The charmingly clever, yet never 
caustic, pen of Agnes Repplier, easily 
places her among the "greatest" ei- 
sayists; and Elizabeth Jordan's short 
stories and editorial work makes her 
name secure. The fact that both Agnes 
Repplier and Elizabeth Jordan are 
sought-after contributors to the best 
magazines, from a standpoint of liter- 
ary values, gives necessarily a wider 
scope to their influence for good. 

Elizabeth Nourse, the recipient of 
the Laetare Medal for 1921, has not 
only proved herself the possessor of 
exceptional artistic ability, but also of 
a love for Catholic ideals, her best work 
being the depicting of motherhood as 
found among the simple peasants of 
Catholic Brittany. 

Not venturing into Music or he 
Drama, our list is closed with this thir- 
teenth name, not the unlucky number, 
but rather the good measure of the 
"baker's dozen." — Reprinted from an 
article in the New World by Alice G. 
Hayde. 



WOMAN'S PLACE IN THE CHURCH. 



563 



The Greatest Woman. 

There has been some discussion re- 
cently as to the ten greatest women 
that America has produced. Opinions 
vary according to prejudice. Amongst 
the many names mentioned only one is 
a Catholic. Like the Hall of Fame, 
the charmed circles seems to be locked 
against Catholics. This is at once a 
comment and a rebuke also. It is a 
comment because fortunately or un- 
fortunately, the great women amongst 
us have chosen to be hidden. It is a 
rebuke because in the intellectual life 
of the nation we have been, and we 
are poverty stricken. Of course, it may 
be alleged we are too recently in Amer- 
ica and, for the most part, our im- 
mediate forebears were poor. But this 
excuse cannot long persist. Getting 
back to the greatest woman, Doctor 
Walsh mentions Mother Catherine 
Drexel and many Catholics will agree 
with him. Doctor Mayo, up in Roches- 
ter, Minnesota, will probably say it was 
& certain Sister Joseph whose marvel- 
ous science and gentle life challenged 
great men in the medical profession. 
But there are others who will say that 
the greatest woman is just Sister. No- 
body knows her name, nobody cares to 
know her name. She herself has de- 
cided that she will be unknown, un- 
heard, and unsung. The undertone 
of her grinding days, the submerging 
of all her human ambition, the service 
to all suffering humanity, without ex- 
pectation of human reward makes her 
the greatest. She has built churches 
echools, hospitals, orphanages and re- 
fuges. Her work, for the most part, 



escapes the notice of men and she 
wishes it so. She goes through life 
without complaint, and newspaper 
publicity would shock her sorely. She 
is eighty per cent of the Catholic 
Church in the United States and that is 
enough to make any woman great. 

There is a light in her eye that comes 
from Heaven, a joy on her face that 
the world knows not. She labors for 
those who are not her own flesh and 
blood but who belong to her Savior 
whom she loves and serves. You would 
not call her great, but she is happy. — 
New World Editorial. 

Women Traveling. 

The Year Book recently published 
by the Protectorate of the Catholic 
Women's League of Chicago shows 
what a world of good these ladies are 
doing. One object of the league, is to 
safeguard young girls, immigrant and 
others, who are traveling alone. In 
each of Chicago's many railway sta- 
tions a woman is in constant attend- 
ance who wears conspicuously the yel- 
low and white badge of the league, 
who can speak several languages, and 
who keeps a sharp lookout for per- 
plexed young arrivals to whom she can 
give information or advice. These 
agents also receive and secure safe 
lodgings for girls who are committed 
to the league's care by foreign immi- 
gration societies. This phase of the 
work is being perfected by the use of 
cards of identification and direction, 
which are distributed throughout Eu- 
rope. These reports are mailed to the 
C. W. L. before the girl sails, the per- 
son to whom she is coming is looked 



564 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



up and arrangements are made to have 
the traveler watched for in New York 
and safely directed to Chicago, which 
is now the great distributing centre 
of our immigration. 

This card of direction the young 
woman carries with her, and when she 
presents it at any port or station she 



is sent at once to a league representa- 
tive. On the back of the card is 
printed in the immigrant's language 
the safe counsel and sane advice of 
practical catholic women extending a 
welcome to members of their own sex, 
either in a strange land or at least 
in a strange city. 



Some Thoughts for Mothers. 

First Communion — Instructions on Our Lord's Life — Family Prayers — Home, 
the First School — Early Communion — Frequent Communion for Children — The 
Child's Vocation — Out at Night — Entertainment for Girls — The Girl Who Works — 
Immodest Dress — Fashions and Modesty — Knowledge of Religion — The Wayward 
Boy — Youth and Crime — Boys' Temptations — Train Your Temper in Youth — Use 
of Narcotics — Contempt for Law — College Education — The Prevailing Vice — Plain 
Talk to Parents — Lily of the Mohawks. 



First Communion. 

A thought that must strike many 
of us when there is a question of 
First Communion is this — much is 
expected, and rightly expected,' of 
children at this momentous period of 
their lives, much during the time of 
preparation, much in after fruits. 
Does the help we provide for them 
bear any proportion to our expecta- 
tions? We know, of course, that the 
Sacrament works by its own efficacy, 
but this in no way dispenses with the 
most careful preparation of mind and 
heart. Are we doing all we can to 
secure such preparation? 

Our work is to lead the child up 
to our Blessed Lord that it may see 
and hear and touch Him, that His in- 
fluence may pour in upon its soul 
through every avenue, that it may 
come to the altar rail not with a few 
dry dogmas as its sole provision, but 



with the eager desire that can say: 
"I know in Whom I have believed." 

The bulk of our children can do 
little by themselves. Even when deal- 
ing with objects that appeal to eye 
and ear and hand, we must have re- 
course to all manner of expedients 
to arrest their attention and gain 
their co-operation. How much more 
is this the ease when the subject-matter 
is beyond the reach of sense, and 
when concentration of mind and ef- 
fort or will are claimed at times for 
matters distasteful to the best dis- 
posed ! 

How can we bring within the range 
of their imagination and intelligence 
and heart and will, the truths we 
want them to grasp with a grip that 
will last through life? Only by re- 
alizing that we must appeal to every 
one of these faculties and make a 
distinct study of the road to each. 



WOMAN'S PLACE IN THE CHURCH. 



565 



Imagination and intelligence we 
may take together. Through the first 
we shall reach the second. "Truth," 
says Cardinal Newman, "is poured 
into the mind of the scholar by his 
eyes and ears, through his affections, 
imagination and reason, and is sealed 
up there in perpetuity." 

Instructions On Our Lord's Life. 

To enable the life and actions, the 
words and personality of our Lord 
to impress themselves upon the imag- 
ination of the children, we may take 
them to the cottage of Nazareth, to 
the temple, through the streets of 
Jerusalem, or to the stormy lake or 
grassy plain, letting them see Him 
among the poor and the sick and the 
little ones feeding the multitude, 
seated at the table with the Twelve. 
We can paint all this in vivid colors 
so that there shall not be a wander- 
ing eye or a careless listener before 
us. Children are not flatterers. If 
we bore them they will let us know 
it. Watch the tell-tale faces. These 
and their questions and answers are 
our best guides as to what appeals to 
them. Our talks should be short and 
bright, lit up by plenty of anecdotes, 
ended, perhaps, by a hymn. 

And here experience shows us that 
next to the grace of God, those who 
have the instruction of first com- 
municants at heart must look to the 
mothers. Efforts may be made by 
others to reach the child's intelli- 
gence, heart and will, but it will be 
to a great extent ineffectual, if the 
home influence does not tell in the 
same direction. It has been found 



that much may be done toward se- 
curing the co-operation of mothers, 

if on the formation of a first com- 
munion class they can have their re- 
sponsibilities and power for good 
brought home to them in a familiar 
talk. 

Mothers will know that prepara- 
tion for first communion is not sim- 
ply a time for implanting a certain 
number of doctrinal facts in the 
child's mind. It is the preparation 
of the young heart for our Lord's 
coming by the exercise of those Chris- 
tian virtues and the formation of 
those Christian habits which must be 
its stay through life. For this the 
proper sphere is the home. Routine 
may influence it in school. There it 
goes with the crowd. It is at home 
that individual effort is called out 
and that good habits are formed. Tell 
them that in the instructions to be 
given, the home life of the Holy Child 
will be set before the children as a 
model of what a Christian home 
should be, and that they will be urged 
to imitate His reverence at prayer, 
His obedience, His helpfulness, etc. 
Show them how much a mother's in- 
telligent co-operation may do here. 
The child's will is weak. Watchful 
and loving care is needed to guide 
and second its efforts : prudence, too, 
and patience. We must not expect 
miracles at this time, or suppose that 
the prospects of the "Great Day" 
will so fill the volatile childish mind 
as to bring about the correction of 
every fault. Good-will is about all 
we must expect. The child should 



566 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



know we look for this. But it would 
be a fatal mistake to make its faults 
at this time, matter for special sur- 
prise and reproach. With little in the 
way of interference, the mother will be 
noting the child's conduct and encour- 
aging every effort. Prayer, morning 
and night, confession more frequent, 
probably, during this time of prepara- 
tion, punctuality at instructions — all 
these the mother should make her con- 
cern and forward as far as may be. 
Could we put these points before moth- 
ers, with the earnestness born of deep 
conviction, could we bring them to 
look upon it as a privilege to help us 
here, what lasting fruits a First Com- 
munion might bring, not to the child 
alone, but to the home I 

Family Prayers. 

With a view to the home influence 
exercised at this time, will it be con- 
sidered irrelevant if a plea is made 
for the restoration amongst us of that 
reunion of the family at night which 
was at one time a general practice in 
Catholic households? In days when 
the sanctity of the home is assailed 
in so many ways, and its safety and 
happiness need stronger defense than 
in the past should we not do well to 
meet at nightfall to secure a blessing 
and protection that will follow the 



children when they leave its shelter 
and enter on the battle of life? 

Experience shows that few impres- 
sions are earlier and more lasting 
than this, of seeing father, mother, 
brothers, and sisters kneeling togeth- 
er as the day closes, in united prayer. 
A young mother recently found her 
babe of three kneeling in a corner, 
the eyes closed, the little hands 
joined. To the question: "What are 
you doing, pet?" came the reply: 
"I'se saying my prayers." "You 
see," explained the mother, "she has 
seen from her crib Jack and me say- 
ing our prayers together when he 
comes home at night." Jack is a 
guard on the railway. Has he not 
had his reward already in the im- 
pression made where it will probably 
never be effaced? 

When the habit of family prayer 
has been lost, effort, no doubt, is 
needed to recover it. But mothers 
are generous and ready to use their 
influence here as far as prudence will 
allow. The habit of morning and 
evening prayer is absolutely essential 
to perseverance in a Christian life. 
Would not God bless the determina- 
tion to meet together for five minutes 
each evening before the children go 
to bed, and thus let each member of 
the family help to train these little 
ones in the way they should go? 



Home The First School. had raised a fine family, and her 

Home is the first school for the mistress asked her one day, "Aunt 

children. Did you ever hear Aunt Sally, how did you raise your boys 

Sally's method of raising boys? Aunt so well?" "Ah '11 tell yo' Missus," 

Sally was an old family servant, who answered Aunt Sally, "Ah raise 'em 



WOMAN'S PLACE IN THE CHURCH. 



567 



wif a barrel stave and Ah raise 'em 
frequent." 

It is just on the point of correc- 
tion that many parents do harm rather 
than good. Correction, to be of any 
use should be both reasonable and 
opportune. But many parents correct 
in anger and temper; they say the 
wrong thing, and by their passion and 
excitement neutralize entirely their 
moral influences. Others, again, 
never cease from harassing the child 
with querulous complaints and petty 
scolding, until at length the child 
ceases to care or notice. Correction 
should be considered, measured and 
adapted to time and circumstances. 
Once made, the parent should see 
that it is attended to. Punishment, 
if needful, should inevitably follow. 
There cannot be a doubt that, with 
children, the conviction, arising from 
experience of the certainty of punish- 
ment is a powerful stimulus to the in- 
valuable habit of self-restraint. 

But punishment, more than any other 
form of correction, needs to be wise, 
considerate and strictly moderate. 
For there is always the danger that 
punishment will stir up the child's 
rebellious passions and harden it in 
wrong-doing instead of moving it to 
good resolutions. This danger is 
always greatest when he who punishes 
is seen to be angry and unjust. There 
is much parental punishment that is 
merely parental temper. Such punish- 
ment works infinite harm, and is the 
cause of the moral ruin of multitudes 
of children. 

Aunt Sally's idea of the barrel 
stave has its good points, but there 



can be no doubt that if parents hold 
that their duty is done after inflict- 
ing punishment on erring children, 
they make a big mistake. Good ex- 
ample and unwearying watchfulness 
on the part of the parent are abso- 
lutely necessary. Neither Church 
nor school can do much if parents 
are not what they should be. There 
must be the example of right 
living always presented to the chil- 
dren, example in the rigid attention 
to religious practice. The child 
easily learns to ask why such atten- 
tion to religious duties is demanded 
of him, when the parents do not give 
thought to religion at all. 

The moral principles taught the 
child must be demonstrated in the 
lives of the child's parents. 

Early Communion. 

Let the little ones make their first 
Holy Communion as soon as possible. 
Do not permit the fact that you may 
have reached a more advanced age be- 
fore your own reception keep the child 
away from the altar. Customs of other 
days were all right. We have since 
come to know better things. Our Holy 
Father has pointed out all the graces 
that we lost during the years in which 
we were deprived of the Sacraments. 

Remember all the knowledge that is 
required of children is a sum propor- 
tioned to their tender age. Do not 
therefore stand in the way if the 
child's teacher suggests to you, or if 
word comes from your pastor, recom- 
mending the reception of first Holy 
Communion for your little one. 



568 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Frequent Communion for Children. 

Our Holy Father especially em- 
phasized this recommendation. Both 
young and old are included. Read 
what Rev. James A. Moloney says on 
this subject. 

"It is a young child, indeed, who 
does not know that God above will re- 
ward the good in Heaven and punish 
the wicked in hell," writes Rev. James 
A. Moloney, in the February, 1913, 
"Catholic World." "Besides, every 
child who has a mother will understand 
what a favor it is to be the friend and 
beloved of Jesus. What answer will 
they make who are called to account for 
unduly keeping apart two such pure 
lovers as Jesus and the child, the Lamb 
of God from the lamb of his own 
flock? This human lamb, moreover, is 
in constant danger of being carried off 
and devoured by a roaring lion who 
is forever roaming around through this 
wilderness of a world savagely seeking 
for prey. Would you be so cruel, so 
manifestly unjust, as to forbid him the 
protection of One in whose presence 
the devil trembles, while recalling to 
mind the grinding heel that crushed 
his serpent's head? Would you hold 
back that little spouse of our Savior 
till spiritually starved into the com- 
mission of mortal sin, and disrobed of 
her snow white innocence before her 
wedding-day? Would you not rather 
introduce at an early age the children 
of your flock to One who is the "way," 
in the only true sense ? Lead them into 
the true light of Him who is Truth it- 
self; and direct their innocent steps 
afield to the rich pastures and living 
manna provided for them by their dear- 



est Shepherd who is Himself the Life? 

He is the living bread that came 
down from Heaven, not really like that 
manna of old which kept men alive for 
a time but could not confer immor- 
tality; the youngest child eats this 
heavenly bread and will never die, for 
"he shall live forever." "Suffer the 
little children to come unto Me, and 
forbid them not." 

The Child's Vocation. 

Of course you have thought and 
planned for your child's future. You 
wonder what he is going to be in later 
life. This is especially of interest 
about the time when circumstances may 
demand that you send the lad to work. 

The greatest danger to a boy's wel- 
fare at this time is the initial high 
wage he may receive. The boy who 
starts high, finds as he grows older 
that his salary and his position remains 
stationary, that his weekly wage is 
swallowed up in one gulp in its feeble 
effort to gratify the appetite of the 
high cost of living, that he has virtually 
run into a blind alley and that there 
is nothing left for him to do but back 
off and start in a new direction. And 
what follows ? In nine cases out of ten 
he gives up his job and starts out in 
search of a new one. And here is 
where the unfortunates wind up. Many 
of these, dissatisfied and discouraged, 
go to make up our street-corner and 
pool-room loafers; some made desper- 
ate by their dire straits, are the fillers 
of our court-rooms; while the others 
drift wearily about, members of the 
army of unemployed, eagerly scanning 
the want ad bulletins of the newspa- 



WOMAN'S PLACE IN THE CHURCH. 



569 



pers, always looking for the good job 
that can never be theirs. 

It is this class of people, the cause 
of which goes back in a measure to 
their misguided youth, that go to in- 
crease the scrap-heap of human beings, 
one finds in large cities. 

Consider well the case of your child. 
Do not send him to work unless he 
has completed his education. Send him 
to high school — to college if possible, 
but at least give him all the education 
you can to fit him for his place in the 
world. 

Out at Night. 

You have seen the same thing many 
times, the young girls, who ought to 
have been at home, wandering the 
streets late at night. Bubbling over 
with fun, finding noisy vent to spirits 
in their idea of fun and pleasure, 
they pass along the business streets, 
attracted by the brilliant lights and 
the consequent doubtful attractions. 
They are distinctly out of place. One 
realizes this at sight. What, however, 
grips the heart is the brazen stares 
which have come thus early into 
bright eyes that should be veiled in 
maidenly modesty, especially to the 
glances of strangers. What hurts is 
the sight of the brazen swagger that 
is so out of harmony with girlhood, 
and the hearing of the idle, flippant 
jesting retort flung over the shoulder 
at some passing scalawag. They are 
to be pitied, these poor children, just 
beginning to play the old, old game 
of life and sin. One could weep bitter 
tears over the children who are thus 
suffered by their lawful protectors to 



take a post graduate course in the 
street life of the city, and to have 
as teachers any and every degenerate 
they may chance to meet, to whom 
purity is a jest and an impossibility. 

Entertainment For Girls. 

A police captain in Kansas City who 
has made a close study of the condi- 
tions leading to the ruin of young girls 
in that city, and who has had plenty of 
opportunity for observation, gives the 
following as the principal causes oi 
their downfall : 

Neglect of parents. 

Fake advertisements asking for fe- 
male help. 

Chop suey and spaghetti restaurants. 

Public dance halls. 

Motion picture theaters. 

Massage parlors. 

Fortune tellers. 

There are many other menaces for 
girls and women, but the seven named 
above are the most frequent and im- 
portant. If these causes were removed 
few girls would leave home and there 
would be much less crime. Our expe- 
rience prompts the following. For the 
most part we are a working class of 
people and entertainment is especially 
necessary for us. 

Our girls who are unable to get the 
proper sort of entertainment sometimes 
get desperate for something outside of 
the daily grind. Naturally they go to 
the public dance halls, where they meet 
men whose only object in the acquaint- 
ance is the downfall of the confiding 
girL After the dance they visit chop 
suey and spaghetti restaurants, where 
the men buy them drinks. Because that 



570 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



is their only opportunity for amuse- 
ment they repeat it and soon lose their 
ideas of self-respect. 

If parents, and especially the mother 
of the girl just coming to the age, when 
she desires excitement, bright lights 
and music, would give her the proper 
attention there would be little danger. 
But the parents take the child's word 
for it that she is going to a respectable 
dance or other entertainment with good 
company. At first the girl may be sin- 
cere, but as soon as she sees how easy 
it is to deceive her parents, she will go 
a little farther for a little more absorb- 
ing pastime and tell a little bigger 
falsehood to her mother. Every mother 
should know by personal investigation 
where and with whom her child spends 
her leisure time. Of course, a great 
many daughters will tell the truth be- 
cause they have nothing to conceal, but 
the risk is too great to take anything 
for granted. 

The parental neglect may take the 
other direction. It is just as harmful 
for parents to keep their girls too close 
at home as it is to be too lax. In one 
case the father and mother allowed 
their three daughters no entertainment 
outside the home. Under no circum- 
stances were they permitted to go out 
with other young persons of their own 
age. The result was that all rebelled 
and ran away from home. 

All girls naturally crave plenty of 
entertainment, but they accept the 
sordid and debasing kind because noth- 
ing else is open to them. In the stores 
and factories they make barely enough 
to feed and clothe them if they cannot 



fall back upon other resources at home. 
If there were places where they could 
learn some kind of skilled work, for 
which they may have talent, and halls 
where they could have the proper kind 
of dances and amusements, they would 
willingly avoid the dangerous attrac- 
tions. 

Girls who have had religious train- 
ing do not lean easily towards the dan- 
ger line. It is the recreation and 
amusement which attracts always. The 
remedy then is to supply such attrac- 
tion free from doubtful influences. 

Catholic mothers, be firm with your 
boys and girls just leaving school. See 
that they attend to their duties ; see 
that they remain in the sodality. Of 
the women who go wrong, not one in 
all the thousands was a faithful sodal- 
ist. Faithful sodalists do not go wrong. 
Hence on the face of it, the mother 
whose girl of sixteen or seventeen is 
not attending sodality regularly is a 
mother who bids fair in later years to 
bewail in bitterness. 

Immodest Dresses. 

Miss Mary M. Bartelme, assistant 
judge of the juvenile court, Chicago, 
is quoted on the subject. 

Talking to a reporter she said : 

"When a girl dresses like that it is 
her mother's fault. The old-fashioned 
mother, who was content with simple 
gowns and frocks, would not tolerate 
such attire on her daughter. The 
old fashioned mother is sadly needed 
now to effect a radical dress reform." 

She asserted that high school girls 
are the worst offenders against Christ- 



WOMAN'S PLACE IN THE CHURCH. 



571 



ian modesty — no style seems too dar- 
ing for them. Then she added. 

"Girls in high school are just at 
the self-conscious age. That is the 
time when motherly supervision is 
essential. Chicago mothers are not 
living up to the requirements of beau- 
tiful motherhood." 

The Girl Who Works. 

There never was a greater need 
for an all-round religious education 
than today. This applies to Catholics 
of all classes. But particularly does 
it strike home to the young person 
who goes out into the business world. 
The young man is perhaps not so apt 
to need a thorough understanding of 
his religion as will the girl who finds 
herself the only Catholic in the depart- 
ment where she is employed. The 
'naggers' will go only so far with the 
man; the girl is an easy victim, de- 
fenceless and entirely at the mercy 
of the troublemakers, especially if she 
displays a lack of knowledge. And 
this lack reflects not only on herself 
alone, but also on the religion of 
which she is the representative. 

Every-day life is filled with these 
indefinable attacks upon religion. 
The atmosphere is seldom irreligious ; 
it is chiefly unreligious, utterly de- 
void of any religious influence. In- 
differentism is widespread and has 
more to do with undermining the 
Faith of weak-kneed Catholics than 
all the attacks made upon the Church 
in very many years. 

The average young woman who 
goes to work in office, store or factory, 
has received all or part of her educa- 



tion in a Catholic school. She comes 
from the average Catholic home 
where religion is as much a part of the 
daily life as is eating. She has ac- 
quired a complete set of safeguards 
which will be a great protection 
against these insidious dangers from 
which even the most innocent are se- 
cure. But it is not enough, fine and 
beautiful as it is, for a girl to be 
high-souled and clean-minded; she 
must have those active forces of the 
mind, which enable her to give an 
account of all that has made her so — 
to give a reason for the Faith that 
is in her. She must have a working 
knowledge of her religion. 

Fashions and Modesty. 

"Wise advice was given recently to a 
class of high school girls by the presi- 
dent of the State Federation of 
Women's Clubs when she talked to 
them about dress and how they risked 
their health by wearing thin hose, low 
pumps and blouses open at the throat 
in all weathers. But talk about health 
is not enough to induce girls, who 
know from experience nothing about 
illness, to abandon such apparel. Ar- 
gument of any sort in fact, has little 
influence with them as long as the 
impressive fact remains that "other 
girls wear these things." 

The rule of fashion is really 
stronger with girls of high school age 
than with their elders, binding as it 
may be in the latter case. Their eyes 
are caught rather by what they con- 
sider the attractiveness of any given 
whimsy in costume than by its suit- 
ability to their needs ; they wish to be 



572 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



like all the other girls, not yet having 

reached, the stag-o when a touch of 
individuality in dress appeals to them. 
Mothers know how difficult it is to 
persuade their young daughters that 
certain fashions in dress are not ap- 
propriate for them yet; difficult as it 
is, mothers are to blame for the gauze 
stockings, the low shoes and the thin, 
open-throated blouses, the wearing of 
which in public causese their daugh- 
ters to be so sharply criticized. 

If there is any place in which ma- 
ternal authority should be exerted 
more firmly than in another it is just 
here. The mothers know, if the girls 
do not, that in cold weather such 
dressing is a menace to health. They 
should know that, at any season, 
short-sleeved, low necked diaphanous 
gowns are not suitable attire for 
the street, in school, in business 
houses or other public places, how- 
ever pleasing and appropriate they 
may be in the home. The girls them- 
selves, thinking only after the fashion 
of young maids of all time, of the 
manner in which the attire enhances 
their comeliness, do not realize the 
fact that they invite cold criticism 
and invidious comment as well as 
very doubtful admiration, nor that 
many persons whose opinion is worth 
considering regard their dress as im- 
proper, while some, perhaps, judge 
the wearers accordingly. 

These girls are as modest and maid- 
enly as if they were swathed to their 
ears and as if their scant, short skirts 
reached to their heels in voluminous 
folds ; they are as unconscious of harm 
or impropriety as were their mothers 



and grandmothers before them at the 
same age. They offend simply from 
ignorance and because their elders do 
not enlighten them and, if need be, 
use stern authority to prevent indul- 
gence in unsuitable dress. It is the 
mothers, not the girls, nor yet their 
fathers, who must bear the respon- 
sibility. 

Knowledge of Religion. 

In the business world, the day 
of the unintelligent person is past, 
Trained, educated, well-informed and 
zealous young people are needed. 
Girls must know the essentials of 
their religion; they must be educated 
in Catholic doctrine ; they must be 
well-informed in the history of the 
Church, and zealous always in its 
practices. Discretion is necessary at 
all times. Girls must learn not to 
take offense too easily. The best 
champions of religion are those who 
knowing their religion thoroughly, 
keep out of all argument and seek 
to avoid trouble which invariably 
follows disputes upon a subject which 
has no place in the business world, but 
when called upon they are always able 
to instill the truth about Catholic 
observance, whenever and wherever 
possible, without arousing prejudice 
or awakening bigotry. 

A Catholic girl should, therefore, 
know the history of her Church to 
such good effect, that she can when 
necessary recount some of its glories, 
and be able to refute some of the 
most common attacks on it, its saints 
and its practices. She should know 
how to explain the Mass and its cere- 



WOMAN'S PLACE IN THE CHURCH. 



573 



monies, the Forty Hours and all other 
well known devotions, such as those 
toward the Sacred Heart and the 
Blessed Virgin. What Sodalities are, 
their objects, the Sacraments and 
especially marriage should be thor- 
oughly familiar to her. Old charges 
will be thrown at her frequently, such 
as the inquisition and other popular 
lies which by being repeated often 
enough have, as Voltaire foretold, 
managed to stick. Information about 
all of these matters will be found else- 
where in this work. And the Catholic 
Truth society will furnish material for 
any subject. The Faith of Our Fath- 
ers, the Question Box, Plain Facts and 
many other excellent works are pub- 
lished in paper form and in cheap 
editions for such emergencies as come 
so often to the Catholic working girl. 

She has a definite place in the bus- 
iness world and a definite duty. A 
practical knowledge of her Faith 
should share place with character 
building in her training. No efforts 
should be spared in inculcating those 
principles and virtues whose posses- 
sion serves to make the girl, what she 
so often is, a shining light before 
God and man. 

Show Your Best Side At Home. 

The young man who is a delight- 
ful companion when out among his 
friends is not always quite as desir- 
able when seen in the intimacy of 
the home circle. It is there that our 
true character shows. Society in gen- 
eral may form an entirely different 
estimate of the character of a young 
man, for his family, though loyaly, 



is apt to shield him from criticism 
by hiding his defects. But home is 
such an easy place to let oneself 
"go." No one would dare to bring 
a grouch into society for no one would 
tolerate it there. The grouchy young 
man would soon see himself ostracized 
and deserted by his companions. What 
a gloom is cast over many a home- 
circle by just such an undesirable 
member. When he enters all sunshine 
seems to depart from the room. 

His sisters never think of asking 
him for a favor. We must have the 
love of God in our heart or we cannot 
love those around us. And so we find 
that the grouchy boy, the grouchy 
young man is seldom religious. He 
shirks his duty whenever he can and 
does just so much and no more. Of 
a stingy and narrow disposition, he is 
stingy with his God. 

The Wayward Boy. 

The bad boy of a family of means 
is no less a problem than the destitute 
boy, and, all thing considered, the 
work of saving him is no less meri- 
torious. Unhappily he often escapes 
notice until it is too late and then 
drifts into a life of viciousness. The 
downward path begins either towards 
the end of his school days or at the 
beginning of his working life. This is 
the crucial time for every boy. He 
then not only conceives false ideas of 
his own manly strength, but those 
over him are likely to humor the de- 
ception by submitting to his will. 
There is a pruning process recognized 
as a necessity by the gardener on 
the young vine. If the pruning is not 



574 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



necessary the vine is useless; if it be 
not applied equally, bad results will 
follow. The boy who has not life 
enough to need restraint will be a 
weakling; and he who is not subject 
to this restraint can do no good. The 
spirit of the age is license, and we 
need scarcely wonder that the boy of 
good parents often slips beyond con- 
trol. There is always some source of 
evil to attract the young heart. Today 
we have the moving pictures ; a few 
years ago it was card-playing. But, 
before these, it was something else. 

Youth and Crime. 

According to Judge Harry Dolan, 
of the boys' court, Chicago, one out 
of every ten boys between 17 and 21 
years old in that city has been ar- 
rested and brought before the court 
during the past year (1915.) This 
statement is appalling. One boy :n 
every ten in a great city in a single 
year brought into court under arrest 
well nigh staggers belief. Most of the 
offences however, were very slight. 

Big Brothers. 

The work of Big Brothers in the 
Holy Name society is an instance of 
Church care of her little children, 
boys in the large city who get in trou- 
ble with the police. 

In Chicago there is a central office 
of this society. Mr. Craine, superin- 
tendent, directs Big Brother work 
among the boys. In one year eighteen 
thousand lads were listed by the courts. 
Alongside every Catholic boy, as he 
stood before the judge, was a Holy 
Name society Big Brother. He had 



been with that lad from the begin- 
ning. He had procured food, clothes, 
free legal advice. He would offer to 
act as sponsor for the lad if the judge 
let him off. He would provide good 
companions, interest the boy's pastor 
in him — help him in any of the ways 
that would suggest themselves to any 
of us if our own little brother were in 
similar trouble. 

Mr. Craine is authority for the 
statement that in four years more than 
twenty-one thousand Catholic boys 
have been aided by Chicago Big Broth- 
ers in the different ways suggested. 
The society bears all expenses, which 
are not arranged through personal 
sacrifice of members. 

Boys' Temptations. 

In his "Conferences for Boys," 
printed in the "Homiletic Monthly," 
the Rev. R. Kuehnel gives some ex- 
cellent advice. The subject of the con- 
ference in one number is "The 
Tough," a most dangerous element 
of society. Father Kuehnel points 
him out "leaning against the walls 
of the saloon at the corner," waiting 
for a chance to get a free drink. If 
the chance does not offer, the loafer 
becomes a thief. He must have liquor 
and will do anything to get it — ex- 
cept work. He was not always like 
that. There was a time when he was 
probably just like some of the boys 
Father Kuehnel is talking to — fond of 
a good time, ready for turbulent fun, 
but none too inclined for study or 
work. The leisure hours and days, 
the street corner teachings and the 
gang gradually lowered the ideals 



WOMAN'S PLACE IN THE CHURCH. 575 



that devoted teachers set before him. 

Father Kuehnel advises his boys to 
keep the devil at a distance by keep- 
ing busy. 

"The evil suggestion which the 
devil deposits in an idle mind finds 
a fine breeding place. It will thrive 
and spread. Evil thoughts will create 
evil desires; the desires will lead to 
actions. The devil, indeed, loves 
nothing more than idleness, though he 
himself is anything but idle." 

No boy, no matter what may be his 
state in life, is immune from the 
effects of idleness. He can't be idle 
and advance in standing and reputa- 
tion. He may have a bright mind, but 
if he does not fill it with wholesome 
thoughts and ambitions it will not 
save him from the doom of the tough. 

"Never give way to idleness," is 
Father Kuehnel 's parting word to his 
boys. "Your ambitions may not be 
realized as quickly as you may de- 
sire ; disappointment and failure may 
make your work seem useless and 
bitter; but others have overcome 
these difficulties and they earned a 
well-merited reward. If others could 
persevere, why not you ? Keep up your 
courage and your faith in yourselves 
and you are bound to win in the end." 

Train Your Temper In Youth. 

Boyhood is always a brief season; 
manhood may be a long one. What 
boy does not look forward to man- 
hood as a coveted goal? And what 
boy would not like to be a popular 
man, and a great man at least within 
the compass of his idea of greatness. 

The cool man is the strong man, the 



popular man and the great man. We 
always associate coolness with brav- 
ery, and we cannot imagine a truly 
courageous man in a high state of 
excitement roaring out what he is 
going to do. There may be persons 
who are boasters and fighters at the 
same time ; but the combination is 
certainly rare. 

Perhaps you remember reading 
about the French soldier who jocu- 
larly spoke of the shower of sand 
cast by a cannon ball on the dis- 
patch he had written as "his blotting 
paper." If you did, you must have 
admired his coolness as much as 
Napoleon, who stood by. 

A parallel ease is that of the gen- 
eral who put a lieutenant under 
arrest, not because he pulled a pistol 
on him, but because it did not go 
off. 

"I will punish you for not keeping 
your fire arms in good order," said 
the general, coolly. 

And as he walked away the lieuten- 
ant must have felt exceedingly cheap. 

Use of Narcotics. 

Mothers will be careful in their use 
of drugs and narcotics in the various 
emergencies of the home. They may 
offer the easiest way out of temporary 
suffering, as those who turn to them 
testify. Yet their relief is but tem- 
porary. The emergency returns in 
greater degree. It is folly, often crim- 
inal, to have recourse to them. 

Many, to whom use of drugs has be- 
come a terrible affliction, date their 
downfall to an ordinary occurrence in 
life, often in youth. At that time they 



576 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



were given a narcotic the effect of 
which they did not know. Knowing its 
temporary relief they had recourse to 
it again and again. Later came com- 
plete slavery to the vice. 

Instruction to children should take 
the form of information as to the later 
evils of drug use. The insidious 
trouble makers should be banished 
from the home. Nothing should be 
purchased in home remedies unless 
from competent, capable dealers. 

Drug Victims. 

The Rev. H. C. Noonan, S. J., Mar- 
quette University, speaking of the 
Jones-Miller Anti-narcotic bill, then 
considered in Congress, declared that 
such action as there advocated would 
be one of the greatest steps forward 
in America. It would stop traffic in 
human souls, he said. 

Members of the National Council of 
Catholic women were especially active 
in promotion of such legislative action. 

"Traffic in human souls is the only 
way the workings of the drug peddler 
can be described, ' ' said Father Noonan. 
' ' The peddler seeks his customers from 
all stations of life. He enters the 
home of the poor in the disguise of a 
friend. He cultivates the acquaintance 
of business men in their clubs. He has 
but one purpose, that being to get more 
customers. Once he has his victim in 
the grip of the drug, the sales begin 
and the money pours in. 

"The Jones-Miller measure, through 
the provision for the deportation of 
aliens found guilty of trafficking in 
narcotic drugs, will make the peddler 



think many times before he sells the 
drug. ' ' 

According to Mrs. Hackett, a leader 
in Milwaukee club circles, the proposed 
bill would be "one of the greatest 
humanitarian acts of Congress in many 
years, ' ' and would give the government 
power it has long needed. 

Contempt For Law. 

A real need in the training and edu- 
cation of young people is emphasis on 
church teaching upon respect for law 
and its officers. 

The increase in crime and law break- 
ing in the United States has become 
alarming. 

Statistics gathered by Judge Gem- 
mill for the Committee on Law En- 
forcement of the American Bar Asso- 
ciation prove that in many cities of 
the United States there are, in each 
one of these cities, more murders com- 
mitted in a year than in all of Eng- 
land and Wales combined. 

"The population of England and 
Wales," says the report, "is about 
twelve times that of Chicago and seven 
times that of New York. For every 
arrest for murder in England and 
Wales in 1920, Chicago had eight and 
a half, and New York had six and 
three-quarters. ' ' 

These statistics took account only of 
arrests for murder and did not con- 
sider the far too numerous cases of 
murder in which there have been no 
arrests. 

Raymond B. Fosdick, in a remark- 
ably wide inquiry into crime condi- 
tions in this country published recent- 



WOMAN'S PLACE IN THE CHURCH. 



577 



ly, has declared that not only in mur- 
der but in all crimes against the per- 
son and against property the figures 
of the United States are far in excess 
of those of all other countries. 

Nor do these police statistics ex- 
haust the signs and symptoms of 
American lawlessness, of disregard of 
constituted authority, and of the abuse 
of lawful authority on the part of too 
many of its representatives. 

The prohibition laws, both federal 
and state, are being widely and increas- 
ingly defied and broken, often by the 
very members of society who ordinarily 
are supposed to support and even to 
direct the operations of law and order. 
It is a notorious fact that many gov- 
ernment officials themselves are viola- 
tors of the prohibition regulations. And 
not only do responsible mature citizens 
take part in this flouting of the law, 
but it is equally well known that young 
people, students in high schools and 
colleges, for example, are incited by the 
restrictions of the prohibition laws to 
rebel against them and to break them. 

More ominous still, the spirit of con- 
tempt for law is continually manifested 
in the actions of some of the prohibi- 
tion agents. In their zeal, or, rather, 
fanaticism, these sworn upholders of 
the law resort to proceedings which 
are subversive of the rights guaranteed 
to citizens by the constitution, such 
as the invasion of homes without war- 
rant. In their efforts to suppress acts 
which af^er all are only legally classed 
as misdemeanors, far too many of these 
agents adopt measures which the law 



itself declares to be felonies. And, as 
is only to be expected, their acts pro- 
voke reactions of a violent and some- 
times of murderous character. 

Worse than all is the rapid growth 
of a spirit of disorder for which an- 
archy itself seems the only logical out- 
come. The spirit is that of the Ku 
Klux Klan. It manifests itself in its 
ultimate form in the mobs which burn 
and torture colored people in the South. 
It is the spirit which usurps lawful 
authority, and, acting in the violated 
name of justice, is the negation of 
civilization whose necessary and indis- 
pensable foundation is lawful author- 
ity. 

A government which will carelessly 
or supinely permit self-elected groups 
of private individuals, held together 
by oaths of secrecy, and disguising 
their members with masks, and robes, 
to interfere with and to set aside the 
orderly processes of courts and legis- 
latures, is preparing the way for civil 
war and anarchical revolution. It is 
giving up Democracy, and permitting 
Mobocracy. 

What strange paradox is this? The 
United States is conceded by the peo- 
ple of other countries, through the ut- 
terances of their leaders, to be the most 
unselfish and idealistic of all the na- 
tions. It is most profusely and prompt- 
ly charitable. Yet, contempt for law 
and order is rife in the United States. 
Movements grow in power which 
threaten the liberty established by the 
fathers. Judges openly proclaim the 
clogging of and the inadequacy of our 



578 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



legal machinery. Crime ravages our 
cities. Criminals go unpunished. 

Can the answer to this paradox be 
found in the fact that the United States 
has relied too much upon human wis- 
dom, and human methods, in the task 
of maintaining its wonderful institu- 
tions? For it is the law of Cod which 
ultimately gives sanction to man-made 
law. Without religion there is no 
force powerful enough to bind the 
various parts and systems of civiliza- 
tion together in harmony. 

Upon those, then, who profess the 
religion established by Christ, there lies 
today a greater responsibility to see to 
it that by example and by teaching 
they do all in their power to uphold 
law and order, and to lead others to 
see that without respect for and obedi- 
ence to just laws, the nation is doomed 
to failure and disaster. — By N. C. W. 
C. News Service furnished to the Cath- 
olic Press. 

College Education. 

The first message to America, for- 
warded by the Associated Press, from 
Pope Pius XI, made a plea for higher 
education. After referring to his life- 
time in connection with libraries and 
places of learning, His Holiness said : 
The university must be a shrine of 
learning. Its purpose should be to 
develop intellectual leaders and endow 
them with deep erudition, guided by 
principles of faith. . . . Zeal, spirit 
learning are forming the most import- 
ant effort of achievement. ' ' 

It was with this conception of the 
functions of university training that 
the Department of Education of the 



National Catholic Welfare Council be- 
gan its campaign for a Catholic Col- 
lege Week in which the importance of 
higher education should be stressed. It 
is significant, however, that the pre- 
liminary announcements of the depart- 
ment immediately attracted attention, 
were given wide publicity by the lead- 
ing secular newspapers and provoked 
men of affairs of national prominence 
to public discussion of the value of a 
college course. 

Among those who have contributed 
to this discussion is Samuel Rea, presi- 
dent of the Pennsylvania railroad. Mr. 
Eea, who is not a college graduate 
himself, having entered the service of 
the great system he now directs at 
the age of 15 years, has made a study 
of the education data in the official 
biographies of 163 leading officers and 
directors of the Pennsylvania railroad. 
He announces that the record demon- 
strates conclusively that the young 
man who begins his work with a mind 
intensively trained by college educa- 
tion, has a much greater chance of at- 
taining a position of high responsi- 
bility and corresponding compensation 
than has the young man without this 
advantage. 

Mr. George Reynolds, president of 
the Continental and Commercial bank, 
Chicago, says : "If my words have any 
weight, I would like to impress on boys 
and young men one point : Go to col- 
lege. I did not go; but I realize that 
the man who has made a university 
course has a tremendous advantage 
over the boy who has to plod step by 



WOMAN'S PLACE IN THE CHURCH. 579 



step through the hard school of ex- 
perience." 

Few people today question the need 
of a high school training. In twenty- 
five years the same unanimity of opin- 
ion will prevail regarding the necessity 
of a college education. 

There are 45,000 students in Cath- 
olic colleges, universities and semin- 
aries. An almost equal number at- 
tend non-Catholic colleges. Catholics 
appreciate the value of higher educa- 
tion. No class is making greater sac- 
rifices to educate their boys and girls. 
The most significant thing, however, 
is that, when possible, they desire their 
children to receive their education in 
a Catholic college. This is not merely 
the result of religious loyalty. Cath- 
olics know what their colleges are and 
what they are doing. They understand 
the superior kind of training which is 
given in a Catholic college. They value 
the religious atmosphere which pre- 
vails there. They want their sons and 
daughters to be educated, upright, hon- 
est and hard-working men and women. 
They send them, as a matter of con- 
viction, to the one place where they 
can be so trained — to a Catholic col- 
lege. 

We hear many complaints about the 
lack of opportunity for young people 
today. There never was a time in the 
history of the United States when the 
chances for leadership were so many 
and so tempting as at the present time. 
This is particularly true where Cath- 
olic leadership is concerned. The 
Church has emerged from the war her 



prestige remarkably enhanced. That 
the moral leadership of the world is 
hers, is an unquestioned fact. Will 
our young men and women grasp the 
significance of this fact and prepare 
themselves to demonstrate the quali- 
ties of moral greatness which their re- 
ligion inculcates and teaches them? 

The Church has a great future be- 
fore it in the world today. In no 
country has it prospered more than 
in America. Opportunities for leader- 
ship in the Church, in politics, in busi- 
ness, in science, are without number. 
What is needed are not more oppor- 
tunities but trained men and women 
to grasp the opportunities which offer 
on all sides. 

The Catholic college has produced 
numberless leaders in American life. 
Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop Ireland, 
Chief Justice White attended Catholic 
colleges. These men had brains and 
their Catholic faith ; to these two great 
gifts of God they added a sound educa- 
tion. Is it surprising that they became 
benefactors of mankind and ornaments 
of the Church of which they were loyal 
sons? 

If the Catholic boy or girl attends 
college for four years, profits by the 
training given therein in languages, 
mathematics, science and philosophy, 
comes out into the world and is not a 
success, both material and spiritual, 
then everything we know about prep- 
aration for life is upside down. Suc- 
cess is not infallibly certain even for 
a college graduate, but his chances are 
seventy per cent better than those of 
the self-educated man. 



580 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



The Prevailing Vice. 

By no means intended for more than 
helpful aid to mothers in guidance of 
their growing children the following 
vigorous denunciation of an evil that 
confronts Catholic youth is offered. It 
is plain speaking by one who has abil- 
ity and courage to speak out on the 
subject. 

"If ever there was a time or a place 
where the sixth commandment was 
broken more frequently, more openly, 
and more shamelessly than it is today, 
we do not know that period or that 
locality. This applies particularly to 
our young people. They will not sub- 
mit to regulation. They despise and 
defy their parents. They wear what 
they like, go where they choose, and 
do what they please. Fifteen seems to 
be the age of emancipation. Until 
then, the boy and girl depend upon 
their parents for food, shelter and 
clothing. Dependence makes them sub- 
mit to some regulation. They may not 
submit cheerfully ; they submit because 
they must. Knowledge is power. High 
school and business open their eyes 
and earning power gives them inde- 
pendence. They demand better food 
and clothing and greater liberty. No 
longer do they ask: may I go? They 
just go and refuse to account for their 
company or their occupation. The 
simple forms of amusement do not 
satisfy them ; they want the more com- 
plicated, expensive and dangerous. 
They find that money talks and they 
hunger for it that it may give them 
standing or procure for them the lux- 
uries they see and crave. Bad books 



and papers fill their minds with evil 
thoughts. Bad pictures and vile plays 
enkindle bad desires. Immodest dress 
and lascivious conduct complete their 
ruin. They soon become as bad as their 
company and contribute their quota 
to fill the turbid stream of evil talk and 
evil action that fertilizes the world 
with evil influence and bad example. 

Sixth Commandment. 

' ' The sixth commandment is a divine 
law. It determines the natural law. 
It must be understood in no narrow 
sense. Literalism may be tolerated in 
many things, but it has no place in the 
world of morals. The sixth command- 
ment has two sides. It bids men be 
pure in mind, heart and body. It bids 
them respect the purity in others and 
it forbids anything unclean or danger- 
ous in ourselves or in others. It for- 
bids us to talk about an immodest sub- 
ject, or willingly to listen to the vile 
stories or scandalous talk of others. It 
forbids us to read bad literature of any 
kind, books, papers, magazines, or let- 
ters and it forbids us to loan them or 
give them to others. It forbids us im- 
modestly to look at any indecent thing 
— be it picture, statue or person or part 
of a person immodestly dressed or ex- 
posed — and it forbids us to keep or dis- 
play such things to others. It forbids 
attendance at plays and comedies 
which either portray indecent matters 
or which portray decent subjects in in- 
decent manner. 

Evil Desires. 

"It forbids us to entertain evil 
thoughts or desires. To entertain 



WOMAN'S PLACE IN THE CHURCH. 



581 



means to allow these thoughts or de- 
sires to remain in our mind or will 
after our conscience has declared that 
they are wicked and has urged us to 
rid ourselves of them. It involves the 
abuse of our free will and makes us 
choose evil when we reject it. The 
sin lies in two facts; first, those 
thoughts and desires produce sensual 
and unlawful pleasure ; second, they 
lead to actions which are more wicked 
than they are. 

"It forbids us to indulge in the sense 
of touch. Therefore, it forbids kisses 
and caresses of a passionate nature. 
These are passionate when they are 
long continued, frequently repeated, or 
accompanied by ardent embraces. 

"It is, of course, understood that 
these marks of affection are not in any 
way unlawful for husbands with their 
own wives or for wives with their own 
husbands, but they are absolutely for- 
bidden to those who are "engaged," 
and to those who are "keeping com- 
pany." They are grievously sinful 
and they lead to the very worst sins. 
There can be no compromise on this 
ground and no one can say he does not 
mean anyhing bad when he takes these 
liberties. The object he has is sensual 
pleasure, which is not lawful outside 
the married state. 

Dangerous Liberties. 

"This prohibition extends to dances 
in which men closely embrace or hold 
women and especially to those which 
are called "cheek to cheek" and to the 
others which were born in dens of in- 
famy and in which no Christian can 



participate without doing violence to 
his conscience. 

' ' It covers all immodest cases of hold- 
ing, handling, hugging. It does not 
matter where these things take place — 
in your own house or in the park, in 
an automobile, on the seashore or in the 
water. They are absolutely and inde- 
fensibly wicked. If women allow men 
to take liberties with them, they sim- 
ply invite disaster. Men respect self- 
respecting women. They despise the 
woman who does not compel them to 
respect her. There are, of course, a 
thousand details into which this paper 
cannot enter. It lays down certain 
general lines by which anyone who has 
a head and a conscience can regulate 
his own conduct and the conduct of 
those with whom he associates. Suf- 
fice it to say, our women have it in 
their power to raise or lower the stand- 
ard of morality. If they tolerate the 
advances of their friends, they must 
expect those friends to measure them 
by what they permit. The girl who 
continues to receive a man who has 
violated propriety, simply condones the 
offense and invites a repetition or an 
aggravation of the impropriety. 

"If women dress like wantons, they 
must expect the treatment of wantons. 
The abandoned woman tries to reveal 
her form and make it appear as at- 
tractive or seductive as possible. It 
was she who brought out the trans- 
parent waist, the very short skirt, the 
paint pot and the powder puff. The 
wonder is how decent women, who have 
no thought of following her trade, 
should imitate her devices. It is en- 



582 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



tirely proper for us all, men and wom- 
en to consider health, comfort, and 
becomingness. No one is required to 
dress or act like a fossil or a scare-crow. 
But all are bound to avoid anything 
which might lead them or the ordinary 
beholder into sin or the danger of sin. 
We must not forget that the primary 
end of dress is protection not display, 
and that men and women have been 
created to help one another, not to prey 
upon one another, and the helping 
means not merely the life here, but the 
life hereafter. They who bear in mind 
that they are the living temples of 
God's Holy Spirit will not make their 
body the prey of the wicked who seek 
only gratification. Neither will they 
make it a bait for others. — Written by 
Father Belford for "Our Parish In- 
terests," publication of Our Lady of 
Lourdes church, New York. 

Plain Talk to Parents. 

Those who bring children into the 
world have quite evidently, some later 
responsibilities concerning them, and 
most parents rise to the occasion. 
Almost incredible sacrifices are made 
by them for the sake of the children. 
But instead of sons and daughters 
being filled with giateful apprecia- 
tion toward the parents, they rather 
demonstrate the contrary. 

Once upon a time the child was 
trained at home, in the school, and 
in the church. In those days it was 
recognized that the child was the man 
in the making, and the necessity of 
training was accepted because the 
powers of the child were untried, his 
habits were unformed, his faculties 



undeveloped. To fit him for the long 
road ahead of him those responsible 
for his existence appreciated the 
value of religion. The child's intellect 
was to be sharpened, his moral fibre 
strengthened, and a clear setting 
forth of his relations to his Maker 
and to men and women in the world 
about him was to teach him why 
obedience to authority was demanded, 
why parents claimed the tribute of 
love and reverence, why the concept 
of duty and obligation was as the 
very foundation of one's life among 
men. Such training did no injury lo 
the reasonable independence of the 
child, it neither increased nor lessened 
his responsibility in his future per- 
formance of his duty as a good citizen, 
it interfered in no way with the 
private and individual rights inherent 
in the child. Its whole purpose, as 
well as its justifying motive, was the 
preparation of the child for the stress 
and the strain of the day when he 
should take his place among men to 
play his independent part in the 
world's battle. 

Some of us, however, mean to 
change all this. Restraint and disci- 
pline and drill are to be deleted from 
the list of helpful elements in the 
process of child-training, and young 
people are to be left to the natural, 
unforced and unchecked development 
of their own characters. 

Disrespect to Parents. 

This is wrong of course. But there 
is a blamable and insufferable self- 
complacency and self-esteem evident 
in the young person of today which 



WOMAN'S PLACE IN THE CHURCH. 



583 



shows a universal desire to brush aside 
all restraint of authority beginning 
of course at home. And there is just 
as blamable disposition on the part 
of parents to let down the bars of 
respect and reverence due them, even 
to encourage defiance of the necessary 
mandates of home life. 

It is cute for a tiny tot to defy 
the parent. Later there are a hun- 
dred excuses made for Johnny and 
Mary when they are impertinent and 
talk back. They even think it funny 
when the precocious child criticises 
them and their ways. When a doubt 
crosses their mind concerning possible 
correction, they dismiss it, being sure 
that when the child grows up all this 
will change and a proper appreciation 
and reverence will be shown. It is a 
fallacious hope. Unless authority is 
established over a child before it is 
three or four years old, unless rever- 
ence and respect for the parent is 
bred from the very cradle, nothing 
but contempt need be expected. And 
it is really about all that can be ex- 
pected, because the time and place for 
proper training was deliberately ig- 
nored. The child's training begins 
with the Fourth Commandment, and 
in the home. 

Neglect of Parents. 

The young man or woman, forced 
through circumstances to live away 
from home is very quilty, when neg- 
lect in attention to parents and the 
home is evident. 

To neglect visiting home fre- 
quently, when possible and above all 



to neglect writing home, is almost 
one of the unpardonable sins. 

The married man or woman who 
lives across the street from his or her 
old father and calls upon him once 
every year is almost as bad as the per- 
son who created by God, calls upon 
Him at the church once a year to pay 
his respects. The desire for respect 
from the young implanted in the 
hearts of the aged is but a reflection 
of the yearning of the heart of God for 
the loyalty and respect of His earthly 
children. 

Care of Children. 

"People take better care of their 
cows and horses than they do of their 
children." Fifteen hundred years 
ago, St. John Chrysostom said that, 
and what was true of his time is 
certainly appropriate today. If you 
have a cow or a horse you always 
know pretty well where it is to be 
found. Can you say the same of your 
children? Even at night when they 
should be at home, do you know 
where they are? To permit children 
to run the streets freely at night is 
criminal carelessness on the part of 
the parents. Youngsters should never 
be allowed out at nights unless accom- 
panied by older persons and even 
then, there should be a time limit. 
There should be no such thing as go- 
ing to bed and leaving the door open 
for the young gadders. The father 
and mother who can go to sleep with 
an easy conscience while their boy or 
girl is out is someone hard to under- 
stand. 

That message of St. John's should 



584 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



give us thought. It may ease the 
burden to get rid of the children for 
a quiet evening, once in a while, but 
this gradual warping of one's con- 
science will bring serious consequen- 
ces later. Insist that your children be 
at home nights, and even when grow- 
ing up, insist upon knowing where 
they are at all times. 

Children and Labor. 

Recent supreme court action declar- 
ing the child labor act invalid means 
that in the states with lower standards 
than those now provided by the federal 
law we may anticipate an immediate 
return to the employment of children 
for the maximum hours and at the 
minimum age the state law permits. 

In Rhode Island and Delaware this 
will mean that the children of 14 who 
have become accustomed to the eight- 
hour day must now adjust themselves 
to a 10-hour day and a 54-hour week. 
In North Carolina they will again be 
employed an 11-hour day and 60-hour 
week ; in New Hampshire, a lOV^-hour 
day and 54-hour week. In Georgia 
they will work a 10-hour day and 60- 
hour week in cotton or woolen mills, 
while in other manufacturing estab- 
lishments or machine shops they will 
legally be employed from sunrise to 
sunset. Our mines and quarries will 
again enjoy the privilege of employing 
child labor in Georgia, Massachusetts, 
Maine, Rhode Island, Florida and Mis- 
souri. 

"Of course we respect the solicitude 
of the supreme court for the preserva- 
tion of state's rights," says a friend of 
the children commenting upon the de- 



cision, "but even political traditions 
are not an absolute guarantee of na- 
tional security. Mr. Chief Justice Taft 
says ours have preserved us for 150 
years, yet it is not more important to 
maintain a sacred political tradition 
than to protect little children exposed 
to industrial exploitation. 

"This court decision throws upon 
those interested in child labor the obli- 
gation to redouble their efforts to se- 
cure proper standards in the backward 
slates, but we have by no means aban- 
doned our hope that the federal gov- 
ernment will find some way of pro- 
tecting those so seriously affected by 
its decision," says a friend of the chil- 
dren, commenting upon the decision. 

Lily of the Mohawks. 

It is possible that an Indian maid- 
en may become America's first saint. 
Interest in her cause has been revived 
by a special recommendation in her 
honor made by the Bishops, at their 
annual meeting in September, 1922. 
The Bishop of Albany near where 
Kateri Tekawitha lived has been 
authorized to work in her behalf. 

Both Councils of Baltimore had 
previously petitioned for the canoniz- 
ation of this Mohawk Indian maiden, 
who has long been the object of ven- 
eration by members of her own race, 
for her many virtues. 

Kateri 's mother, an Algonquin, had 
become a Christian but was taken 
captive from her home in Canada by 
the Mohawks who carried her to New 
York. There she was wedded to a 
Mohawk warrior. Little Kateri was 



WOMAN'S PLACE IN THE CHURCH. 



585 



born in 1652. When she was four 
years old her parents died of small- 
pox and Kateri was sent to live with 
an uncle. The child had never heard 
of "Rawanniio" the great God of 
white men but on the occasion of 
three Jesuit missionaries' visit, she 
listened intently to all they said. For 
the remainder of her life Christian 
ideals were dominant in her soul and 
for refusing to marry a certain war- 
rior she was chastised, despised and 
humiliated. 

After preparation covering an en- 
tire winter, she was baptized o.i 
Easter Sunday, 1676 by Father do 
Lamberville. With the aid of other 
Christian Indians, she escaped and 
took refuge in a village near the 
Lachine rapids on the shore of the 
St. Lawrence. There in poace she 
spent the remainder of her life. 

At the age of twenty-one she was 
permitted to take a vow of chastity, 
and her extraordinary sanctity in- 
creased and made her famous not 
only among her own people, but also 
among French settlers and the mis- 
sionaries. Her bosom friend was 
Therese Tagaiaguenta, another Indian 
girl, and together they sought the 
road to perfection. 

Therese, and the mother's friend, 
were with Kateri during the last, 
years of her life and when her body, 
overcome by severe mortification and 
self-inflicted sufferings, yielded up its 
spirit. "Her face" said one of the 
missionary fathers, "emaciated and 
marked, changed all at once a quarter 
of an hour after her death and be- 



came so beautiful and fair that I 
gave a great cry." 

Over her grave, near Lachine rap- 
ids, is an inscription: Kateri Tekak- 
witha,— April 17, 1680. "The fairest 
flower that ever bloomed among the 
redmen. " 

Child Missioners. 

The Annual Report of the Associa- 
tion of the Holy Childhood, which 
covers the period ending with May 1, 
1922, points out the excellent work 
done by Catholic children the world 
over. The pennies they saved by lit- 
tle self-denials in order to alleviate 
the present unhappy lot of pagan chil- 
dren and procure for them the bless- 
ing of baptism amounted to $1,272,- 
000. This sum has been distributed 
among upward of 300 missions in 
Asia, Africa and India to be spent ex- 
clusively for the needs of the children. 
This budget is to support 1,140 or- 
phanages, 14,025 schools, and 3,796 
workshops from which a yearly re- 
port is received at headquarters. In 
these institutions a year's record 
shows 403,413 infants baptized in dan- 
ger of death and 449.027 cared for 
and educated. Besides, there are 
many receiving aid who failed to sub- 
mit a report to headquarters. 

While these figures point to ex- 
cellent work accomplished we are de- 
luged with appeals from the mission- 
aries who are much hampered by lack 
of funds. There are ever so many lit- 
tle ones they must turn away because 
they lack the means of supporting 
them. Now $1,272,800 does look like 
a lot of money and when we consider 



586 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



that our American children contrib- 
uted $167,600.16 during the past year 
we ought to be gratified. Neverthe- 
less, we have no reason to be proud 
of our achievement. In our parochial 
schools there are upward of 2,000,000 
pupils. Were all these members of 
the association, as has been so ear- 
estly recommended by the Holy See, 
the membership dues of one penny a 
month would amount to $240,000 a 
year. It would be an injustice to our 
children to allow the impression that 
they have only contributed $167,600.- 
18. This sum represents the receipts 
of the Holy Childhood Association 
alone and our children have also con- 
tributed generously toward many 



other organizations both missionary 
and charitable. It is, however, to be 
regretted that so comparatively few 
are identified with the vast army of 
little ones who have enlisted under 
the banner of Christ in order to help 
to win the world for Christ. Besides 
developing a generous spirit and ap- 
preciation of the great gift of Faith 
this religious union of all Catholic 
children offers excellent advantages. 
It represents a missionary movement 
earnestly advocated and enriched 
with many favors by the Holy See and 
also approved by the Catholic hier- 
archy. The national office of the Holy 
Childhood Association is at Pitts- 
burgh, Pa. 



Bibliography. 

The Home World, Doyle; Feminism, O'Kane; Chiefly Among 
Women, O'Sullivan; What One Woman Did, L. T. M., in Catholic 
Mind; Mirror of True Womanhood, O'Reilly; Women of the Bible, 
O'Reilly; Mary in Prophecy and Fulfillment, Quigley; The Woman 
Question, Husslein; Sermon by Cardinal Gibbons; Year Books of 
Catholic Woman's Clubs; Cana, Martin; Talks to Parents, Conroy; 
Woman Suffrage, Woman In History, Catholic Mind pamphlets; 
Economic History for Catholic Women, English Catholic Truth 
Society pamphlet. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



The Sta^e. 

Religious Plays — Indecent Plays — Church Attitude — Catholic Actors' Guild — 
White List of Plays— Catholic Theatre Movement— Prejudice and the Stage— The 
Movies — Motion Picture Facts — Motion Pictures and Morals — The Child and the 
Film Hall — Plays for Amateurs — Recreation — Cardinal Gibbons Urges Clean 
Pictures — Community Recreation — Movie Stars — Movie Censorship. 



There can be no justifiable doubt 
as to the fact that the miracle plays 
or "Moralities" of the Middle Ages 
were indeed religious in the true 
sense of the adjective. Whatever may 
have been their literary merit, they 
certainly represented and expressed 
sincere faith and piety, on the part 
not only of their authors, but also of 
the actors. And it is not too much 
to add that the audiences before 
which these plays were given derived 
a good deal more than mere enter- 
tainment from the performances ; they 
experienced, through illustrations of 
religious truth and teaching, a 
strengthening of their faith and de- 
votion. 

The Passion Play. 

In a minor degree, this is true of 
the last genuine survival of the old 
time plays, to wit: the Oberammergau 
Passion Play. The sentiment, action, 
and diction of the Oberammergau 
drama are unquestionably, truly, 
deeply religious. The drama's peas- 
ant-performers do not fall short of 
their mediaeval ancestors in the 



matter of fine, simple faith. The 
Oberammergau performance has a 
wholesale moral effect on worldly- 
minded spectators. They carry away 
a lasting memory of the Passion Play 
as a wondrous achievement of un- 
yielding faith. Consequently, the 
German Passion Play calls for un- 
qualified approval; is, like the Moral- 
ities of the past, rightly and thor- 
oughly religious. 

It is practically impossible to pro- 
duce on the modern professional stage 
a drama wherein Our Lord is a per- 
sonage, in a manner entirely unob- 
jectionable, edifying, and helpfully 
inspiring to the faithful Catholic. Yet 
it follows that in these modern times 
of ours, dramatic performances may 
possess really religious significance 
and importance, if the plays are in 
themselves sincerely religious. Even if 
so designed, however, the extreme 
rarity of actors not hopelessly dis- 
qualified from impersonating the In- 
carnate God in a manner such as not 
to give offense, even when the play 
itself is reverently religious. 

And, second, the rarity of true Re- 



588 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



ligious Plays and the danger of false 
"Religious" ones. 

Indecent Plays. 

Unfortunately, the American stage 
has been for years used as the means 
of putting before the public a quan- 
tity of immoral, indecent plays. 

There is no need of going into de- 
tails as to the characteristic features 
of those plays. Suffice it to say that 
almost if not quite a majority of the 
American theatres' offerings since 
1894 or 1895 is made up of musical 
comedies or "shows" wherein exhi- 
bitions more or less lewd and of 
dramas whose plots and dialogue turn 
almost exclusively on illicit rela- 
tions and especially, on the violation 
of the marriage vow, take the place 
of story, melody, and healthy humor; 
while not a few plays of that major- 
ity also deal in sneers at religion and 
attacks on all that the faithful Catho- 
lic deems sacred. 

It goes without saying, that such 
theatrical performances — offensive 
both to faith and to morals — must 
not be witnessed by the Catholic play- 
goer, whose presence at one of them 
would mean not merely risk of con- 
tamination for himself, but also en- 
couragement given to an evil most 
likely to spread corruption among 
considerable numbers of his fellow- 
beings. 

The Catholic play-goer absolutely 
must not patronize an evil play. That 
is certainly clear beyond all contradic- 
tion. But, it may be asked, how can 
a faithful Catholic, desiring earnestly 
to obey the Church's command in this 



particular matter, wishing not to en- 
courage or countenance in the least 
an immoral, indecent theatrical per- 
formance and at the same time being 
fond of good, clean drama — how can 
such a one succeed in the task of 
separating the stage-wheat from the 
stage-tares, of ascertaining just what 
plays to see and what plays not to 
see? 

The answer is a simple one : He 
can do so by taking the trouble of 
gathering information regarding the 
nature of the play he is expecting to 
witness, well in advance. Indeed, 
generally speaking, the notices in the 
newspapers, the reviews and adver- 
tisements, and the posters put out by 
the theatre managers, will not fail 
to convey a fairly correct idea as to 
whether the play is clean, decent, 
moral, or not. And, besides, the 
Catholic play-goer is now in a position 
to take advantage of the knowledge 
furnished him through what is des- 
cribed as "the white list" — this 
"white list" being a list of plays 
found white, free from matter offen- 
sive to the Catholic sense of faith 
and morals, by a number of Catholics 
qualified to act as judges. The list 
is published at intervals and spread 
broadcast. 

Church Attitude. 

Let this be clearly understood: 
Holy Church does not condemn the 
stage. If she does anything, she ap- 
proves of clean, wholesome plays, as 
she sets the seal of her approval on 
all innocent pleasure, all pure amuse- 
ment. But she does emphatically con- 



THE STAGE. 



589 



demn every indecent, immoral play or 
"show," and she emphatically com- 
mands her children to stay away 
from, to discourage as much as they 
can, every such theatrical offering. 
And she also expects her children lo 
refuse their patronage to any stage 
performance regarding whose moral 
standing there may be room for 
doubt. 

Good Plays. 

It is a mistake to think that the 
Church discountenances acting as a 
profession. Catholics do not by any 
means excommunicate themselves by 
becoming actors. The United States 
theatrical favorite of some years ago, 
Miss Mary Anderson now Mrs. de 
Navarro was and is a devout Catho- 
lic. And so is Miss Margaret Anglki, 
the foremost actress of to-day. In 
fact, many of the leading actors of 
this country are practical Catholics, 
among them Emmett Corrigan, Geo. 
M. Cohan, Wilton Lackaye, Brandon 
Tynan, Jos. Miron, J. J. Cohan, 
Stephen Maley, Eva Condon and many 
others. 

Recurring for a moment to the sub- 
ject of plays, the Catholic playgoer 
can easily gratify his fondness for the 
theatre by frequent visits there — with- 
out patronizing any show or drama 
sinning against faith or morality. Be- 
cause there are still plenty of good, 
clean dramatic offerings. Generally 
speaking, any play in which appears 
that eminently lovable character 
actor David Warfield, or John Drew, 
or De Wolf Hopper, or Margaret Ang- 
lin, or Laurette Taylor, or Julia Mar- 



lowe — to name but a few distin- 
guished players of the present — is 
practically sure to be clean and 
wholesome as well as truly entertain- 

mg> Catholic Actors' Guild. 

The well-known comedian, Frank 
Mclntyre, is prominent in the Catho- 
lic Actors' Guild of America with 150 
members, some of whom are men- 
tioned above. Mr. Mclntyre was one 
of the first of his profession to recog- 
nize the force and influence that the 
guild might wield. To Rev. John 
Talbot Smith of New York, he gave 
his best efforts in bringing about the 
organization of that society. Miss 
Irene West is an excellent Catholic 
actress, active in further extension 
of the guild's activities. 

The object of the Catholic Actor's 
Guild is to promote the best interests 
of the stage and the Church, by bring- 
ing members of the theatrical profes- 
sion together on spiritual and relig- 
ious lines, through social and intel- 
lectual intercourse of the clergy, laity 
and the profession. The guild also, 
by the discussion of ways and means 
to promote the clean and the enlight- 
ening popular drama, strives to drive 
out from the stage productions that 
appeal to those seeking sensation in 
the drama. It purposes the securing 
of proper and necessary legislation to 
root out abuses and prevent their 
growth, by recognizing and support- 
ing right methods in the conception, 
building up and exploitation of dra- 
matic productions. 

A short time ago the guild made 
public its principal object as the up- 



590 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



lifting of the drama and appealed to 
the Catholics of America to support 
the clean and wholesome play. In 
its appeal it published the white list 
of plays worthy of general support, 
which list is given below. 

A "White List" of Plays. 

The Catholic Theatre movement reg- 
uarly issues a list of plays as a sug- 
guested guide. Though the plays men- 
tioned are free from any gross feature, 
yet it must be admitted that the tone 
of some of them could be more elevated. 
Indeed, it is felt that "there will be 
Catholic playgoers who, consistently 
with their own standards, may prop- 
erly refuse to accept every play on the 
list supplied." Enquiry may be made 
of the Catholic Theater movement for 
information as to lists published from 
time to time. 

The local centre of the Catholic 
Theatre movement in Philadelphia is 
especially active under the guidance 
of Msgr. Fisher and Father Wheeler. 
Prominent on its membership roll are 
Katherine Bregy, Honor "Walsh, Lor- 
etta Foy, Louise Cruice, Virginia 
Martin. The centre issues an inter- 
esting catalog of plays available for 
use in church and college dramatic 
organizations. 

The Catholic Theatre Movement. 

The Catholic Theatre movement is 
an organized effort to bring the nor- 
mal, sensible Catholic conscience to 
bear upon the subject of public amuse- 
ment just as it is brought to bear 
upon public instruction, or literature 
or any other department of modern 
life. It was inaugurated under the 



leadership of Cardinal Farley at the 
time when it was felt that a campaign 
of education had become really neces- 
sary among American playgoers, and 
that Catholics must unite, in the in- 
terest of morality and decent ideals, 
to influence public sentiment upon 
theatrical matters. From the first 
there was a determination among its 
founders to avoid all methods savor- 
ing of the fanatical or spectacular and 
to work by building up quite as much 
as by tearing down. 

Prejudice and the Stage. 

At the annual meeting of the Cath- 
olic Stage Guild held in London, July, 
1916, Madame de Navarro, known so 
favorably on the American stage some 
years ago as Mary Anderson, ad- 
dressed the meeting. She quoted Mr. 
Ben. Greet 's remark that the Catholic 
Stage Guild succeeded far better in its 
objects, and had far more members 
than the Actors' Church Union (An- 
glican). She who had always been 
such an ideal church member, was of 
opinion that the union of so many 
members of the profession with the 
guild not only made them very fervent 
in their Faith, but had doiu> a great 
deal to break down prejudice against 
the stage. "I know to my sorrow," 
said Madame de Navarro, "that prej- 
udices did exist. My own relatives 
said they would rather see mo dead 
than on the stage, and as a girl I 
was always ralher nervous when I 
came across a strange priest, who 
might only know my name as con- 
nected with the :V,age " 

She was glad that actors can claim 



THE STAGE. 



591 



three saints : St. Pelagia, St. Gelasinus 
and St. Genesius, and she believed 
that only the Catholic Church could 
write "comedian and martyr" after 
a saint's name. 

The Saints to whom Madame de 
Navarro refers, are very probably St. 
Pelagia of Antioch who was an actress 
before her conversion (there is no 
later record of her following the pro- 
fession) and St. Genisius, comedian 
who was martyred at Rome about 303. 
Some seem to think that the latter 
Saint is one and the same with St. 
Gelasius or Gelasinus who died at 
Hieropolis in 297. Popularly, St. 
Genesius is honored as the patron 
Saint of theatrical performers. 

The "Movies." 

Of late years, the moving-picture or 
"movie" theatres are to be found by 
the hundreds in all big cities of the 
country and by the dozens in its 
smaller towns. The "movies' " pop- 
ularity is very great indeed — owing 
largely to the fact that they furnish 
an evening's entertainment for the 
modest amount of ten, or even five, 
cents, at least, in their initial stage. 

Now, moving pictures of the best 
kind can accomplish not a little good 
— since they are capable of instruct- 
ing while they entertain. For in- 
stance, pictures that deal with travel 
in foreign countries or with big-game 
hunts may serve to teach the spec- 
tators, big and little, valuable facts 
concerning geography, mankind : u 
various surroundings, and natural 
history, in a very enjoyable manner. 



In which case, the "movies" deserve 
commendation. 

But on the other hand, a great many 
moving pictures seen at the countless 
"movie" theatres will convey no 
salutary lesson whatever, but will on the 
contrary exert a bad influence on the 
spectators, particularly on spectators 
who are young boys and girls. Such 
pictures are those which tell the stor- 
ies of crime and criminals — the latter 
too often escaping punishment on ac- 
count of their "smartness"; those 
others which reveal happenings in the 
underworld of evil men and shamelecs 
woman ; and those others still — usually 
of the would-be funny variety — which 
invite the youthful beholders to laugh 
at misfortune and snicker at what 
should be reverently viewed — old age, 
for one thing. 

And, again, on the other hand, it is 
true that not a few of the "movie" 
theatres in some sections of the big 
cities have become regular haunts of 
disreputable, degraded characters — 
vicious men and vicious youths — who 
are there looking for opportunities to 
debauch unprotected innocence. 

For which several reasons it is un- 
doubtedly the duty of Catholic parents 
to see that their children — the little 
girls and the young girls up to sixteen 
years of age, more particularly — do 
not frequent "movie" theatres where 
doubtful pictures have been shown, 
and do not frequent any "movie" 
theatre after dark, unless they are 
carefully escorted. 

Motion Picture Facts. 

Two thousand delegates met at the 



592 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



sixth annual convention of the Motion 
Picture Exhibitors' League in Chi- 
cago, July, 1916. The extent of the 
moving pictures industry may be 
judged from the reports presented at 
that convention. 

Number of picture theatres in the 
United States, 21,600; daily attend- 
ance, 25,000,000 ; Amount invested in 
moving picture property, $360,000,- 
000 ; salaries paid weekly, $2,300,000 ; 
number of moving picture employees, 
205,000 ; amount invested in film 
plants, machines, electrical equip- 
ment, theatres, $2,000,000,000. 

Plays for Amateurs. 

It happens frequently that associa- 
tions of young people, desirous of pre- 
senting dramatic performances either 
for their own pleasure or for benefit 
of some worthy cause, are deterred 
through fear of the difficulties to be 
encountered. 

For benefit of these we present 
practical suggestions on how to han- 
dle such plays for beginners and a list 
of performances well within the capa- 
bilities of earnest workers. The fol- 
lowing is a contribution on the sub- 
ject from Kev. M. A. Schumacher, 
Sublette, 111., to the Dubuque Trib- 
une : 

Following are a few plays which 
are clean, very interesting and sure 
of success. The list is not by any 
means exhaustive but they have stood 
the test of experience. The first half 
of this division will deal with one-act 
plays. Three such playlets will pro- 
vide an evening's amusement. They 



are most serviceable when an enter- 
tainment must be provided on short 
notice, as the purts being shorter are 
more quickly m: morized ; the single 
groups of casts being smaller, enables 
you to arrange rehearsals more fre- 
quently and conveniently. On such 
occasions it is wiser to provide a con- 
trast between a farce and tragedy. 
Place a few clouds in the sky and the 
brightness is always more noticeable. 
The comedies are printed in the order 
of their excellence. 

1. Box and Cox. 

2. A Street Faker. 

3. A Cold Finish. 

4. The Cabman and the Lady. 

5. Ici on Parle Francais. 

6. Turn Him Out. 

7. Millions In It. 

8. A Fair Encounter. 

9. Taking Father's Place. 

10. Deception. 

11. Hey, Rube ! 

"Box and Cox" is inimitable; it 
takes about 25 minutes and is played 
by two males and one minor female 
character; many directors declare it 
the best one-act comedy ever written. 
"A Street Faker" is something en- 
tirely new, and should be used for a 
crashing finale. Nos. 3, 4, 5 and 6 are 
equal in interest. No. 7 is capable of 
any number of variations and addi- 
tions ; Nos. 3 and 4 require actors above 
the ordinary. In the other numbers the 
humor is milder, but the interest is nev- 
ertheless sustained. 

To vary these with a more somber 
color, you may use : 

1. The Deserter. 



THE STAGE. 



593 



2. The Man Who Came Back. 

3. A Rough Diamond. 

4. The Benediction (Catholic). 

It is very difficult to find a suitable 
one-act tragedy ; my short experience 
has netted me only the above four. 

The following have been found to be 
successful three to five-act comedies, 
printed in order of their merit : 

1. The Doctor. 

2. Savageland (a musical comedy). 

3. The Man From Borneo. 

4. A Poor Married Man. 

5. Safety First. 

6. Sowing Wild Oats. 

7. And Home Came Ted (royalty 
play). 

No. 1 is replete with wit so clever that 
only the experienced theatregoer wiil 
seize all of it. No. 2 requires 30 actors 
of whom about six must be above aver- 
age ability. The remainder constitute 
the choruses; it is very good but re- 
quires much rehearsing. With amateurs 
of average ability, any other of the 
above comedies will act itself. The 
French Dramatic Co. has many farces 
superior to the above, but since the at- 
tached royalty may too much deplete 
your receipts, I will make no mention of 
them. Publishers everywhere announce 
an increasing demand for farces ; they 
are acted more easily than tragedies, as 
for example, amongst nearly 70 young 
people, whom I have drilled for theatri- 
cals, not more than half a dozen could 
sustain a tragic part. Farces are rather 
the vogue in the city parishes where life 
appears more lightsome, and where gay 



comedy is the usual run on the secular 
stage. 

Dramas with a slightly serious view 
seem to be more popular in smaller 
centers of population. Such people are 
not too sophisticated to take offense at 
the plots which occasionally are a little 
shop worn. It is indeed impossible to 
secure a serious play which does not 
rehearse some turn we have seen before. 
Following are a few printed in the or- 
der of merit (it is understood that a 
mild humor also accompanies these) : 

1. Lighthouse Nan. 

2. A Noble Outcast. 

3. St. Elmo. 

4. East Lynne. 

5. Prairie Rose. 

6. An American Hustler. 

7. The Merry Cobbler. 

8. Civil Service. 

9. Tatters. 

10. The Black Heifer. 

With one appropriate water scene,, 
No. 1 will prove a winner. "A Noble 
Outcast" is a close second and many 
would award it first honors. No. 3 a 
manuscript play, is good but rather 
difficult. Nos. 5, 6 and 7 have been on 
the stage a long time, but their strong 
situations and abundant humor still 
make them favorites. In the cast of 
"The Merry Cobbler" are six little 
girls who can be trained to appropriate 
songs for dances. 

Just before this article went to press, 
I finished reading the play, "For Love 
of Johnny." My opinion of the drama 
is that it will be our next effort. I doubt 
whether the author is a Catholic but it 



594 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



is the best approach, to my ideal of a 
play of Catholic tone that I have ever 
read. The setting is Catholic ,the argu- 
ment is Catholic truth, and the prin- 
cipal actor of the cast is a Catholic 
priest. It is rich in melodrama and 
startling effects, all again tempered to 
the reasonable by the sweet Catholic 
tone pervading the whole piece. 

Motion Pictures and Morals. 

Moving picture shows are now so 
widespread that some 12,000,000 peo- 
ple, it is estimated, attend them daily 
in the cities, towns and villages of this 
country. It would seem, then, that 
laws should be enacted and enforced 
to protect the life, health and morals 
of the multitudes, women and children 
for the most part, that frequent these 
film halls. Yet complaints are being 
constantly made in the press that little 
has been done to remedy existing evils. 
In New York city, indeed, the alder- 
men recently voted in favor of an 
ordinance that does away with small, 
unsafe, and ill-ventilated moving pic- 
ture theatres, and that also provides 
for the censoring of films, but owing 
to the connections of "politics" with 
the question fears are felt that the 
regulations, as they stand, will hardly 
become a law or, at any rate, an effec- 
tive one. 

It is a pity that a matter of such 
vital importance to the morals of a 
community as is the proper control of 
these amusement halls should remain 
so long unsettled. In European cities 
measures seem to be taken to remedy 
the evils of the film theatre. In Ber- 
lin, for instance, the police are to force 



cinematograph managers to introduce 
well-censored shows for children only, 
and it will be unlawful to admit any 
child under sixteen to any other mov- 
ing picture performance. 

The harm that is done, especially to 
children, by the exhibition of films de- 
picting the commission of crime has 
been dwelt on before in these columns. 
Indeed, readers of the daily papers 
must have remarked how often youth- 
ful culprits are reported to have re- 
ceived their first lessons in wrongdoing 
at the moving picture show. Yet if 
properly managed and controlled, what 
a power for good these places could be 
made to exert. Suppose the scenes 
represented should consist chiefly of the 
high achievements of Christian heros, 
contemporary events of worldwide in- 
terest, or deeds from history that are 
ennobling and uplifting. 

That the public would take kindly 
to the change seems to be proved by 
the interest with which throngs of be- 
holders recently viewed, here and in 
other cities, a film showing the Holy 
Father walking in the Vatican gardens 
and another that reproduces scenes 
from the Eucharistic Congress at Mon- 
treal. The cinematograph companies, 
moreover, would doubtless manufacture 
more films of this character were there 
an unequivocal demand for them. The 
life and martyrdom of Father Jogues, 
we understand, is now being prepared 
for the picture halls. But there are 
hundreds of scenes from the Church's 
annals that could be as successfully re- 
produced by motion pictures. Cath- 
olic patrons of these theatres, if they 



THE STAGE. 



595 



went about it properly, could doubtless 
secure not only the omission of objec- 
tionable films, but the exhibition of 
those that are instructive and improv- 
ing. — Reprinted from America. 

The Child and the Film Hall. 

At a teachers' conference held re- 
cently in London, ' ' The Cinematograph 
as an Educational Medium," was one 
of the questions discussed. Dr. Lyttel- 
ton, headmaster of Eton, said that: 

"The more he considered the subject 
the more he was convinced of the po- 
tentialities of the cinematograph for 
almost unbounded mischief if left 
alone, and for great good if controlled. 
He had never known any development 
of education in his lifetime where more 
caution was required. Without control 
pictures might be shown which any 
right-minded man knew must be per- 
nicious in their influence, especially on 
■hildren with excitable minds an<^ 
imaginations. Today there was a per- 
fect bombardment of young minds with 
whole masses of heterogeneous facts 
which could not be assimilated. As soon 
as the cinematograph was introduced 
into a town on any large scale it ac- 
centuated the evil. Speaking simply 
as a teacher, he thought that children 
in the elementary schools were likely 
to suffer nothing but harm if they 
were allowed to go to more than one of 
these shows a week, and that no single 
show ought to take more than three- 
quarters of an hour." 

Fancy an American child being re- 
stricted to but one moving picture show 
a week, and that one, moreover, last- 
ing only forty-five minutes. Parents 



who enforced such a heartless regula- 
tion would doubtless enjoy the un- 
divided attention of the Society for 
the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. 
Yet little boys and girls in the United 
States are just as likely to be harmed 
in nerves and mind and morals by go- 
ing too often to the cinematograph 
halls, as are the children of England. 

For many of the films exhibited in 
American towns and cities, as we know, 
depict crimes, disasters and accidents 
that are even more "blood-curdling" 
than would be the realities the pictures 
are supposed to represent. These hor- 
rors are feasted on night after night 
by little children who should be in bed. 
On their late return home, like as not, 
they are too excited to sleep well and 
will rise the following morning too 
tired for good work at school — Amer- 
ica. 

Cardinal Gibbons Urged Clean 
Pictures. 

In conjunction with the efforts of 
international reform bureaus to ob- 
tain effective official censorship of mo- 
tion pictures, a letter was received from 
His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons on this 
general subject by Rev. W. F. Crafts, a 
Protestant minister of Washington, 
superintendent and treasurer of the 
bureau. 

The Cardinal's letter, which was 
written from his residence in Balti- 
more, is as follows : 

"Whatever will make our American 
people better, and, therefore, happier, 
I am, of course, for. 

"Films and moving pictures have a 
wide, formative influence and hence I 



i 



596 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



should like to see them instructive and 
moral, at the same time entertaining 
and artistic. 

"To secure such we must both try 
to stop off the flood of degrading pic- 
tures and appeal to our people to de- 
mand good films. 

"Like food for body that the gov- 
ernment says must be pure, like cor- 
respondence in our mails which the 
government again says must be decent 
and not obscene, so, too, the mental 
food, the correspondence that is car- 
ried daily into the minds and hearts of 
our rising generation through moving 
picture parlors should be wholesome 
and elevating." 

Recreation. 

Communities have taken forward 
steps in the matter of providing recrea- 
tion in ways other than plays and mov- 
ies. It is a helpful feature, a sign of 
encouragement. From a press bulletin 
of the Central Verein we quote the fol- 
lowing suggestions : 

" It is a hopeful sign that we now are 
getting helpful Catholic manuals which 
teach the Catholic citizen his duty 
towards the community as well as his 
rights as a member of the state. If the 
Catholic man and woman follow the 
directions laid down in such approved 
manuals, they may have the satisfac- 
tion both of living up to their social 
duties and of knowing how to protect 
their rights. A late addition to the 
'Catholic Manuals for Social Stu- 
dents' is 'The Christian Citizen' 
by Susan Cunnington. The work re- 
fers to English conditions but will serve 



a useful purpose for American read- 
ers. 

"We know that a demand is made 
upon the community today to safe- 
guard the health of its members and 
to provide the right kind of recreation 
for the young. We should co-operate 
with such movements as it is one of 
the duties of every good citizen to do 
so. Concerning the duty of providing 
wholesome amusements for the young, 
Miss Cunnington writes : 'It is an un- 
doubted truth that recreation is an 
essential for the happiness and health, 
mental and spiritual as well as physical, 
of the ordinary human being. A being 
with an immortal destiny is not pre- 
pared for it by a life which uses but 
one side of nature, one set of his ca- 
pacities, and leaves the other side 
stunted and the rest of his powers 
dwarfed. It has been very truly said 
that one reason why England was Mer- 
rie England in the past was because 
of the nature of the work which so 
many people in the Middle Ages, and 
right up to the industrial revolution 
of the eighteenth century, did ; and 
that the reason why England is not 
Merrie England any longer is because 
of the nature of the work which so 
many people do now.' " 

Community Recreation. 

Our Catholic societies have a fine 
opportunity to help in providing such 
legitimate recreation. At a time when 
amusements have been largely com- 
mercialized there is danger in frequent- 
ing the palaces of pleasure. Any move- 
ment, therefore, tending to give our 
young folks a chance to develop the 



THE STAGE. 



597 



"play instinct" in a legitimate way 
is deserving of our support. 

But at the same time we must guard 
against another great evil which is 
growing up in connection with "com- 
munity work." This is paternalism, 
against whose ugly manifestations we 
cannot be too severe. Miss Cunning- 
ton says: "The persistent attempts of 
the state in nearly all modern legisla- 
tion and reform is to do for the in- 
dividual citizen the things which it 
should be possible for him to do for 
himself, thus encroaching upon his 
personal liberty and robbing him of all 
incentive to take the initiative." 

Community work has, therefore, both 
its advantages and drawbacks. It is 
for this reason we need books like the 
one here referred to. For, as Miss 
Cunnington writes: "Catholic citizens 
have before them the patriotic duty of 
learning the actual working and ad- 
ministration of laws intended to be for 
the general good, of supporting and 
furthering them by intelligent service 
in their rightful province ; and of 
guarding against and resisting inter- 
pretations which go beyond the State's 
true object." 

Movie Stars. 

"Either motion pictures are doomed 
or they will be saved," says an eastern 
priest, speaking of flagrant scandals, 
widely advertised on the part of cer- 
tain moving picture stars: "They are 
doomed if the producers continue to 
offend American women and ignore 
their protest against filthy men and 
loose women as screen stars. Their sal- 
vation rests in carrying out the pro- 



posed plan of tolerating only upright 
persons in the high places of the art." 

Illogical plots from ill-trained writ- 
ers is another reason the reverend gen- 
tleman gives for the many current 
movie plays which are so distasteful. 
This fault, he asserts, rests with pro- 
ducers who will not pay for better 
scenarios. 

"The man or woman behind the 
scenario should know the art of logical 
development of a theme and especially 
the art of climax. Too many of them 
are veritable tyros in these matters. 
Consequently, their pictures bore us or 
disgust us. They are too amateurish 
for this country, where millions have 
had college or high school training. 

"It is also within the province of the 
producer of a play to feel beforehand 
what will surely offend people. Noth- 
ing is more intimate than a motion pic- 
ture, because the room is dark and 
every other idea is excluded. It is just 
as though the producer were there on 
the scene talking to us, eye to eye. 
But how many of them forget this and 
use profanity and vulgarisms that do 
not help the picture at all, but hurt it 
and the whole motion picture indus- 
try." 

Movie Censorship. 

The arraignment of the movies by 
Senator Myers, of Montana, as a source 
of moral corruption, following public 
scandals, foreshadowed a more ex- 
tended discussion of the problem by 
Congress when more pressing economic 
problems were disposed of. General 
opinion in the Senate and House was 
opposed to censorship but at the same 



598 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



time there was a notion among most 
members that something would have 
to be done if the states, or the moving 
picture producers, failed to do it them- 
selves. 

The question is exceedingly compli- 
cated. Censorship involves the use of 
moving pictures not only as "pictured 
drama" but as a vehicle for all sorts 
of things that are covered by the much 
misused word "propaganda." One of 
the difficulties is the use of them for 
political purposes, in which respect 
they are almost as important as the 
press itself. How to devise a system 
of censorship which would concern it- 
self only with the moral effects of mov- 
ing picture and not with the political 
effects is something over which the 
legislators are much perplexed. 

Moreover, opinions as to the morality 
or immorality of pictures are limited 
in number only by the membership of 
Congress itself. What one might con- 
sider harmless, even beneficial from an 
educative point of view, another will 
look upon as the invention of the devil 



himself. When it comes to a matter 
of moral standards Congress is hope- 
lessly at sea. This was illustrated by 
the recent legislation providing a di- 
vorce code for the canal zone. The 
House struck a mean between the ex- 
tremes presented by the various states. 
But no such mean can be established 
as a standard for moving picture 
morals. 

"The State," said Senator Myers, 
"has interest in citizenship and a con- 
cern in the education of the young; it 
has an interest in good morals. It 
regulates in many ways those things, 
and the motion picture industry con- 
cerns all of those things, and is, there- 
fore, subject to regulation by the State. 
It has become a public utility. The 
motion picture industry has a great 
power, and I think I can say that it 
has been frightfully abused and mis- 
used, so much so, that there has arisen 
a determined and powerful movement 
in favor of official censorship." — (By 
N. C. W. C. News Service.) 



Bibliography. 

Address by Madam de Navarro (Mary Anderson) at Catholic 
Actors' Guild, London; Everyman and other miracle plays; litera- 
ture of Oberammergau Passion Play; Rev. John Talbot, Smith at 
Catholic Actors' Guild, New York; editorials on the Stage from New 
World, Chicago, and from America, N. Y.; Movie Facts from ad- 
dress by Judge T. D. Hurley, chairman Moving Picture Civic Com- 
mission, Chicago. 



CHAPTER XXm. 



Brief Talks. 

Farmers Learn from Monks — Grumblers — Family Tattlers — Home Troubles — 
Catholic Societies and Loyalty — Join Civic Movements — Sin and Leprosy — Effect 
of Confession on Society — Colored Catholics — Manners — The Gentleman Boy — 
Divorce Facts — Blessings of Heresy — Bootlegging — What Children Should Know — 
The Souls in Purgatory. 



Farmers Learn From the Monks. 

How the religious spirit of the old 
world is being coupled with modern 
scientific methods in the development 
of agriculture was impressed upon 
members of the Canadian Society of 
Technical Agriculturists who were 
guests of the Trappist Fathers of the 
Order of Citeaux at their monastery 
farm in Oka, during their convention 
in Montreal, reported by a writer for 
the N. C. W. C. News Service. 

The Agricultural Institute is part 
of the Abbey of Notre Dame du Lac 
at Oka and there more than one hun- 
dred students are studying the latest 
devices for farming and cattle raising. 

The visitors were met by Father 
Leopold, 0. C. R., the director of the 
institute, and were taken on a com- 
plete tour of inspection, including in 
their survey the barns, the truck farm, 
the poultry house. As these are all 
within the monastery precincts ladies 
were politely waved back and only the 
male members of the society were able 
to view the work being carried on. 

Animal husbandry experts in the 
party were warm in their commenda- 



tion of the excellent results obtained 
by the monks in breeding dairy cattle 
suitable for the climate, commenting 
especially on the uniformity of size. 

The celebrated Oka melon a ten- 
pound fruit with a salmon-colored 
pulp, which is considered one of the 
most delicious products of the farm, 
was the principal object of interest in 
the truck farm and the manner in 
which this prize was developed by 
selection extending over a period of 
many years was described to the vis- 
itors. Experiments to produce a breed 
of Canadian chanticleer, extending 
over a period of fifteen years, were 
described when the experts visited the 
poultry yard. 

Father Leopold mystified some of 
the visitors when he produced a num- 
ber of skins which he described as 
those of the silver fox, but which 
proved to be those of a special breed 
of rabbits being raised on the farm. 
Many of these skins had been care- 
fully dressed and dried and resembled 
those of the expensive variety. 

Following the tour, the guests were 
invited to luncheon "a la Oka," every- 
thing on the table being provided by 



600 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



the farm, including the famous Oka 
cheese and other delicacies. 

Dr. F. C. Harrison, principal of 
MacDonald College, the agricultural 
offspring of McGill University, paid 
high tribute to the work being done 
by the monks. It reminded him, he 
said, of some of the old monastic in- 
stitutions of England and France, 
joining as it did the past with the 
future in a way that was unique. 
Surely such a sp'rit, he said, must be 
exalted, and must have its effect upon 
the students who labored under the 
care of the Trappist Fathers. 

Grumblers. 

Some people are born grumblers. 
As children they were known as "cry- 
babies," they could not lose grace- 
fully at games, and as they grew in 
years their sour temper grew with 
them. At length they slid into a 
groove of habitual bad temper; their 
words and ways incessantly made 
trouble in the household, and a grow- 
ing spirit of quarrelsomeness marked 
the family history. The trouble grew 
more painful and hopeless with the 
years. Such cases really fall into 
the category of mental disease. They 
are now classified as calling for dis- 
tinct treatment; and "the black drop 
in the blood," whether due to ac- 
cidental deformity or ancestral weak- 
ness or again to encouraged self-will, 
has to be driven out before there can 
be even a partial cure. 

All that we need say is that the 
unhappy patient must conspire with 
the specialist to get rid of the evil 
thing. A stern and prolonged 



struggle may be needed to beget -i 
new heart and a right spirit. Con- 
tinued indulgence can only ruin 
irretrievably the mechanism of 
thought and feeling That way 
madness lies. Horror and pity al- 
ternately sway sane people in face 
of such displays of uncontrolled pas- 
sion. In Old Jewry the "possessed" 
were driven into waste places ; in our 
land and in our day some such plan 
might be a solution. 

Family Tattlers. 

Is there anyone more tiresome than 
a family tattler. They tell you about 
the most intimate family affairs, us- 
ually under the influence of anger 
over a recent difference. Quarrels, 
jealousy, anger, strife of every k:'nd 
is admitted in this species of "family 
vivisection." It amounts to a sac- 
rilege. There is nothing more sacred 
than family relationships. Yet bitter 
feelings are engendered, the family 
dirty linen is aired for the benefit 
of a public, which not only does not 
want to pay attention but is quite 
ready to ostracize those who have 
so little decency about them. No- 
body wants for a friend, the man or 
woman who is disloyal to his own 
flesh and blood. Not only is there 
nothing to be gained, but the "tat- 
tler," earns for herself the wholesome 
dislike of decent people. 

Home Troubles. 

Some married folks do not get on 
very well together. Scarcely a day 
passes without a quarrel. Disagree- 
ments arise over the most insigni- 



BRIEF TALKS. 



601 



ficant matters. There is a constant 
criticizing and fault-finding unril 
life becomes miserable for both hus- 
band and wife. This constant nag- 
ging frequently results in a lasting 
estrangement which destroys the hap- 
piness of the home. 

In the ideal Christian home peace 
and contentment abide. Quarrels 
should not occur between persons 
who ought to cherish, love and esteem 
each other above anybody else in the 
world. Both husband and wife should 
be solicitous about keeping the affec- 
tion which made them so happy in the 
early years of their married life, and 
which is so essential to domestic har- 
mony. 

What a simple thing it is to live 
happily together! Consideration for 
the needs and wishes of the other 
and patience with each other's faults 
will make life agreeable and full of 
contentment. 

Do not permit constant disagree- 
ments to destroy the happiness of 
your home-life. If it is not con- 
genial now, make it so. Make everv 
effort to restore the former cordial 
relations. Often a few kind words 
and a heart to heart talk will clear 
away the clouds that cause your ur- 
happin^ss and discontent. Do n~>r 
hesitate to open peace negotiations. 
Let nothing be undone to restore the 
peace and contentment which mean 
so much to you and your family. 

Catholic Societies and Loyalty. 

Instances of the varied activities of 
the American Federation of Catholic 



Societies are found in the report of 
the annual convention held in New 
York City, August, 1916. 

A strong defense of the patriotism 
of Roman Catholics was voted at the 
session of the American Federation 
of Catholic Societies by Francis Slat- 
tery, of Boston, who said in part: 

"Designing men persist in the 
charge that loyalty to the Pope is in- 
consistent with allegiance to the 
country. Their motive is obvious. The 
flag is dear to us all. It flies over a 
united people. 

"What more cunning move to crush 
a religion could be made than to 
charge its members with disloyalty 
and to attempt to turn against them 
the passions of a patriotic people? 
So we find a great Catholic citizenship 
bitterly assailed as an enemy to the 
State. Let those who attack us now 
measure their puny selves against the 
powerful Napoleon, who tried in vain 
to overthrow the church. We Catho- 
lics invite the closest scrutiny into 
the principles and practices of the 
Church. 

"I am an American and it is a fact 
that I glory in." 

Join Civic Movements. 

Bishop P. J. Muldoon of Rockford, 
111., who addressed the women upon 
their civic obligations, said : 

"Do not blame things on the Pro- 
testants. If you do not join in these 
movements for the public betterment 
you have no right to complain. The 
terrible theory of birth control needs 
all the corrective influence of Cath- 



602 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



olic thought in forming community 
opinions." 

At the business session of the Cen- 
tral Verein one of the chief speakers 
was Rev. F. Betten, who took for his 
topic, "Knowledge Is Power." 

The speaker touched upon the Eu- 
ropean war in his address, saying 
that Germany had been able to with- 
stand superior enemies because of the 
intellectual capacity of her men. He 
spoke strongly in. favor of higher 
education. 

Sin and Leprosy. 

Should we not avail ourselves of 
God's goodness by Confession, and 
by frequent Confession, be always 
worthy in His sight ? Holy Church calls 
upon her children to make such a reso- 
lution. "Go show yourselves to the 
priest," was the command to the 
lepers of old, and so now Holy Church 
commands all afflicted with the lep- 
rosy of sin to have immediate recourse 
to the Sacrament of Penance, and 
those who happily are free she would 
have them come, too, to be washed and 
strengthened anew in the blood of the 
Immaculate Lamb. 

Effect of Confession on Society. 

By Very Rev. T. N. Burke, 0. P. 

"If the whole world were Catholic, 
and all men had consented to go regu- 
larly to the Sacraments, and to ap- 
proach worthily the Sacrament of Pen- 
ance, this alone would put an end to 
all sin. There would be no more sin. 
There would be no more heart break- 
ing, no more tears, no more terrific 
record of robberies and murders, no 



more women hardening their hearts 
and making them more ferocious than 
the tigress, when she tears and de- 
vours her young; no more of that 

cautious, cold, calculating dishonesty, 
— men casting their wiles about each 
other like a spider's web to entrap 
each other; no misery in the world; 
all would be happiness if men would 
only open their festering souls and 
let in the salt of the power and of the 
grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

"Thus do we behold the action of 
the confessional on society. Oh, my 
friends, let us pray that God may 
enlighten those who, without the pale 
of the Catholic Church, go on from day 
to day, from year to year adding sin 
to sin, and bearing the accumulated 
burden of their sins before the eternal 
judgment seat of Jesus Christ. 

"Whilst we pray for them, oh, let us, 
like good men and true, enter into 
those privileges and graces which we 
enjoy, cleansing our souls from sins, 
preserving them in their purity by the 
frequent application of grace which 
destroys those sins at the beginning, 
and by frequenting Confession and 
Holy Communion build up our souls 
upon the grace of graces, and strength 
of strengths, until we are gathered in 
the fullness of the years of our man- 
hood, into the joy of our Lord Jesus 
Christ." 

Colored Catholics. 

Slowly but surely the Catholics of 
the United States are awakening to the 
realization of the magnitude of our 
Negro problem, says America, New 
York, editorially. In order to bring 



BRIEF TALKS. 



them to a fuller knowledge of its 
importance, all that is now needed 
is continuous insistence on the duty 
we owe to these unfortunate children 
of God. Redeemed like ourselves in 
the Blood of the Lamb, they still sit 
in darkness and in the shadow of 
death awaiting the light that will 
show them the glorious Christ, in 
whom lie hope and salvation. 

To our shame be it said that as yet 
Catholics have done very little, indeed, 
to lead the colored man to the better 
way. "With rare and creditable ex- 
ceptions, religious orders and con- 
gregations that have been prodigal of 
men and money for the conversion 
of the Indian have neglected the Ne- 
gro in a way that belies their repu- 
tation for zeal. And this in the face 
of the obvious fact that some day 
America will be in large portion a 
black republic. For the Negro has 
come to stay, to increase in numbers, 
for better or for worse, to take each 
year a more important part in the 
affairs of the Republic. This table 
tells an important part of this story : 



Census Negroes 

1790 757,208 

1800 1,002,037 

1810 1,377,808 

1820 1,771,656 

1830 2,328,642 

1840 2,873,648 

1850 3,638,808 

1860 4,441,830 

1870 4,880,009 

1880 6,580,793 

1890 7,448,788 

1900 8,833,994 



603 

1910 9,827,763 

1920 10,463,131 

In other words, in sixty years the 
colored population has more than 
doubled, not by immigration, as in 
the case of the white people, but by 
births. Despite hardships and disease, 
the black man has increased by leaps 
and bounds, and as the conditions 
under which he lives improve, the 
increase will be proportionately 
greater. And where will the Church 
be in his life ? That depends upon our 
zeal. Today the Catholic Church 
exerts little or no influence upon the 
colored man. There are about 250,- 
000 Catholics among a population of 
10,463,131. 

It is high time for us to bestir our- 
selves and take thought of this condi- 
tion of affairs. A great mission field 
filled with simple, affectionate, relig- 
iously inclined people lies at our door, 
while we sigh for conquest in Tim- 
buetoo and other regions inacces- 
sible to our zeal. Over 1,176,987 
Negroes await us in Georgia, 1,009,487 
in Mississippi, 908,282 in Alabama, 
835,483 in South Carolina, 600,000 in 
North Carolina and Texas. Why not 
go there ? God can give us martyrdom 
in those places, also, and probably 
will grant it, if we try to deserve the 
grace. It is high time that we 
dropped our pose and got down to 
hard work on behalf of the Negro. 
Long ago we should have stopped 
talking about his vices, and started 
to work at making him better. 
Granted, for the sake of the argu- 
ment merely, that he is supremely 



604 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



wicked, why not strive to make him 
good? Granted, for the sake of argu- 
ment, too, that he is good, why not 
strive to make him better? In other 
words why have we not made heroic 
efforts to help the Negro? He, too, 
is a child of God. And it is always 
good for us to remember: "There 
is neither Jew nor Greek: there is 
neither bond nor free : there is 
neither male nor female. For you 
are all one in Jesus Christ." 

Manners. 

Good manners must grow. If chil- 
dren are taught by example as well 
as precept, at the every-day table, to 
properly use their spoons, knives and 
forks, napkins, cups, etc., and to be 
cleanly in handling their dishes drink- 
ing properly, chewing with the mouth 
shut, and not allowed to pick and pull 
over the victuals served in the family 
dishes, they will usually respect the 
proprieties when at the table of others. 
In no other way can a child make 
itself more disagreeable than by show- 
ing a disrespect for the decorum and 
delicacy of the table. If parents 
would only remember this, and insist 
kindly, but firmly, on obedience to 
these rules, they would spare them- 
selves many humiliating experiences. 
But these lessons cannot be taught by 
precept alone; there must be example 
as well. If the adults of the family, 
and especially the father, allow them- 
selves unseemly latitude in this direc- 
tion, be assured the bright little eyes 
will see it, and some time, when one is 
particularly anxious to have things at 
their best, these imitations of home 



methods will flash out, to our intense 
mortification. 

It is a great mistake, but one often 
made by a mother, when she thinks 
that her little son or daughter, is too 
young to know how to be polite, too 
young to realize that other people's 
feelings are hurt by a rude speech, too 
young to know that discourtesy to- 
ward an inferior is the grossest form 
of impertinence. Moral training of a 
child should be throughly instilled be- 
fore the child is seven years old in 
order for right doing to become a 
habit. If this is not too young for a 
child to realize the difference between 
right and wrong, it is certainly not 
too early to begin a few lessons in 
politeness. "The child is father to 
the man" is true in more senses than 
one, and few grown men and women 
can acquire a certain delicacy of be- 
havior, absolute ease of manner and 
forbearance toward associates which 
has not been inculcated in early 
youth. The Gentleman Boy> 

An eminent educator, addressing an 
assemblage of parents, said : 

"Let your boy with the first lispings 
of speech be taught to speak accur- 
ately on all subjects, be they trivial 
or important, and when he becomes 
a man, he will scorn to tell a lie. 

"Early instill into your boy's mind 
decision of character. Undecided, 
purposeless boys make namby-pamby 
men, useless to themselves and to 
everybody else. 

"Teach your boy to have an object 
in view, the backbone to go after it, 
and the stick-to-it-iveness quality. 



BRIEF TALKS. 



605 



"Teach your boy to disdain revenge. 
Revenge is a sin that grows with his 
strength. Teach him to write kind- 
nesses in marble, injuries in the dust. 

"There is nothing that improves a 
boy's character so much as putting 
him on his honor — trusting to his 
honor. I have little hope for the boy 
who is dead to the feeling of honor. 
The boy who needs to be continually 
looked after is on the road to ruin. If 
treating your boy as a gentleman does 
not make him a gentleman, nothing 
else will. 

"Let your boy wait upon himself 
as much as possible. The more he has 
to depend upon himself the more 
manly a little fellow he will show him- 
self. Self-dependence will call out his 
energies, bring into exercise his tal- 
ents. The wisest charity is to help a 
boy to help himself. 

"Happy is the father who is happy 
in his boy, and happy is the boy who 
is happy in his father." 

Divorce Facts. 

The peril of modern life and modern 
ideas of life to the American home 
is graphically illustrated in the 
records for the year of the marriage 
license bureau, and the divorce courts 
of Cook County. These figures were 
not prepared to point a lesson. They 
were tabulated in the ordinary couise 
of the year's work by the statisticians, 
but the lesson is obvious. 

There were 1,200 feAver marriages 
than the normal number in this coun- 
try in the year closing July 31. Dur- 
ing, that same period 10,016 couples 



were separated by divorce. As the 
total number of marriages during the 
period here was 39,588, it appears that 
more than one out of every four of 
these marriages failed. 

With the number of marriages fall- 
ing off and one out of every four fail- 
ing, the inroads into American home 
life are apparent to all who merely 
glance at the figures. 

During the year, one judge, Judge 
Charles A. McDonald, heard 5,754 
divorce cases before he adjourned for 
the summer vacation. Another, Judge 
Joseph Sabath, broke down under the 
strain of the divorce hearing grind, 
having tried 6,500 such cases in twelve 
years and was forced to take a long 
rest. Two courts, each with several 
judges sitting, take care of the divorce 
calendar. 

During the year the circuit court- 
united marriage knots at a rate of 
378 a month, while in the superior 
court a record of 548 divorce decrees 
a month was maintained. 

The high cost of living, inability 
to secure homes during the housing 
shortage and the desire of women to 
be independent and self-supporting, 
is the material explanation of the 
divorce growth, given by the county 
officials. 

Judge McDonald, who is a Catholic, 
attributes the divorces to the fact that 
the couples have no religions basis for 
marriage, or religious restraints after 
marriage. The industrial conditions 
and after-war problems he holds to be 
merely the pretense and not the under- 



606 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



lying cause of the startling increase 
in divorce. 

"If the community could realize the 
enormity of the divorce evil," says 
Judge Sabath, who is a Jew, "parents 
would give much more attention to the 
preparation of their children for mar- 
riage. I regard matrimony as a career, 
for which preparation should be made 
both by the man and the woman." 

Blessings of Heresy. 

Heresies we have always with us; 
but any single heresy, when one comes 
to think of it, is scarcely ever more 
than a day 's acquaintance. This point 
is brilliantly made by Daniel A. Lord, 
S. J., in a paper contributed to the 
October "Catholic World" under the 
beguiling title, "The Blessings of 
Heresy." As links in his argumenta- 
tive chain, the author writes these 
paragraphs : 

"Within our own half century, we 
have seen a scientific heresy, that 
started with great wavings of flags 
and beating of drums, meekly admit 
that there was something wrong with 
the cause for which it was fighting 
and something decidedly shady about 
its leaders. But the admission at this 
late date can not give back faith to 
the weak souls whom it fooled and 
befuddled, with proofs that did not 
prove and arguments that cracked 
like glass." 

"Bootlegging." 

A bootlegger sells liquor to a person 
who, he knows, is most likely to use it 
to excess. He knows also that the 
person had been making a successful 



effort for some time to overcome the 
habit. Suppose the transaction re- 
sulted, not only in intoxication, but 
also in the missing of Mass on Sun- 
day, what is the bootlegger's moral 
guilt ? 

The above is a question that fits 
into a popular topic of conversation 
and following is the answer: 

In the first place, the bootlegger 
is an illegal vendor of liquor and, as 
such, he may, if he persists in his 
nefarious traffic, he denied the Sacra- 
ments of the Church. (Canon 403 c 
of the Plenary Council of Quebec, 
which was for the whole of Canada.) 
This indicates the gravity of the il- 
legal vendor's offence in the eyes of 
the Church. The Sacraments are 
never denied except for grave cause. 
Taking for granted, then, that the 
bootlegger in question is making a 
business, more or less regular, of the 
traffic, it can be concluded that his 
sins is a grave one apart from the 
special circumstances connected with 
this particular case. 

In the proposed case, the bootleg- 
ger foresaw that his customer 
would commit a mortal sin by drink- 
ing to excess. In selling him the liq- 
uor, he directly intended and willed 
that mortal sin and, therefore, made 
himself responsible for it. 

He is guilty of the sin of scandal. 
Scandal is defined by St. Thomas 
Aquinas as "any act or word which 
is the occasion of spiritual injury to 
another." Scandal is direct when the 
sin of another is intended; it is in- 
direct when it is forseen without be- 



BRIEF TALKS. 



607 



ing directly intended. The bootleg- 
ger not only foresaw the other's sin, 
but actually was the cause, at least 
partial, of that sin, inasmuch, as he 
actively provoked it. 

It may be presumed that the miss- 
ing of Mass on Sunday was not fore- 
seen or intended. 

What Children Should Know. 

The Chicago "Dial," in a recent ar- 
ticle entitled "What Children Should 

Know," has these sensible words about 
the little boy of today who is allowed 
to "amuse himself" without let or 
hindrance : 

"We know too well what sort of 
things he picks out from the newspa- 
pers, what sort of revealing sugges- 
tions he gets from the popular songs, 
vaudeville shows, and moving-picture 
displays, to which his opening and cu- 
rious intelligence is made free by the 
indulgence or criminal negligence of 
his parents. Some of the more por- 
tentously serious among us even take 
the bull by the horns, and, adopting 
the false psychology of the couplet, 

"Vice is a monster of so frightful 
mien, 

As to be hated, needs but to be seen, ' ' 
while ignoring the couplet that fol- 
lows, insist that it is our duty to bring 
childhood face to face with evil in the 
bluntest form of statement, and seem 
to believe that the right sort of moral 
reaction will ensue. Under the spe- 
cious name of 'sex hygiene,' these mis- 
guided doctrinaires seek to introduce 
into public education the discussion of 
subjects that demand for their treat- 



ment not only the utmost delicacy, but, 
above all things else, privacy — which 
qualities are entirely incompatible 
with such a scheme of exploitation." 

Of course, however, there are hope- 
ful signs that the public is recovering 
its common sense in these matters. 
Just as the papers and magazines went 
mad some years ago over the "white 
plague," their later mania was "sex 
hygiene," and, as usual, those who 
wrote and talked on the subject with 
the least reserve and delicacy were 
those who were most unqualified to 
speak at all. 

The Souls In Purgatory. 

The souls of the faithful departed 
who are expiating in purgatory the 
temporal punishment due to their 
sins have always been an object of 
special solicitude on the part of the 
Church. She appeals to her children 
to be ever mindful of the needs of 
those suffering souls whose period of 
purgation can be shortened by the 
offering of prayers and good works in 
their behalf. 

To emphasize her unwearying 
solicitude for the holy souls the 
Church designates the month of No- 
vember as a time of special devotion 
towards them. After paying tribute 
on November 1, to the unnumbered 
Saints in glory, she turns immediately 
to their exiled brethren and on the 
Feast of All Souls, especially invokes 
heaven's aid and bids us transport 
ourselves in spirit to their place of 
purgation and pour forth our prayers 
that they upon whom "the night has 
come in which no man can work" may 



608 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



be granted a speedy release from their 
pains. 

The souls in purgatory, having 
passed away from earth, are no longer 
in a state of probation. Hence, they 
can do nothing to help themselves. 
They must be resigned to their fate 
and in patience and suffering await 
the day of liberation which will dawn 
only when the dross of life's journey 
has been burned away. 

Upon us, their brethren of the 
Church Militant, they rely with con- 
fidence for the speedy close of their 
period of exile. Their petitions for 
help fall upon the ears of the true 
Christian in pleading tones that will 
not be silenced. "Have pity on me, 
at least you, my friends, because the 
hand of the Lord hath touched me. : ' 
Affection and piety urge us to harken 
to their piteous appeal for Masses, 
prayers and good works that they 
may obtain an early release from 
their suffering. They have the holiest 
claims upon our Christian charity. 



They are bound to us by the ties of a 
common faith and the tenderest bonds 
of nature. Fathers and mothers plead 
for remembrance; brothers and sis- 
ters, relatives and friends, beg for 
help. If we dare refuse them, then 
religion has lost its meaning for us. 
Faith teaches us that our prayers can 
help them, and it gives us the assur- 
ance that they, on reaching the haven 
of eternal happiness, will not be un- 
mindful of those who came to their 
aid in time of direst need. 

For our own sakes, therefore, if 
for no loftier motive, let us not for- 
get those who have gone before us 
with the sign of faith and buoyed up 
with the hope of a glorious resurrec- 
tion. As they plead now, so also we 
shall one day plead, and the response 
then given to our cry of distress will 
be proportioned to what we are now 
willing to do to mitigate the pains of 
our departed brethren and advance 
the hour of their final liberation. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



Practical Questions and Answers. 

Being an arrangement of information in this form as best adapted to answer 
a sudden need, practical in the sense that people have asked the many question* 
herewith presented. 



Little questions that frequently pre- 
sent themselves to the mind on points 
of religion and practice are disturbing. 
One wants to know and to do the right 
thing. It is so easy to forget exact 
details on points that come up at long 
intervals. The question and answer 
column in the Catholic Press has, 
therefore, become a popular medium 
for providing instruction. 

Since these questions represent a 
real need among Catholics we have 
taken pains to review a series which 
over a term of years has appeared in 
our papers, prominent among them be- 
ing the Messenger of the League of 
the Sacred Heart: 



How can I find out whether I am 
excused from the Lenten fast? 

Ask your confessor or parish priest. 



"When will the end of the world 
eome ? 

Nobody knows. 



How long after death should one 
«ontinue to pray for the dead? 

The Church sets no limit. We can 
a©t know when persons are released 



from Purgatory. If those for whom 
we pray are in Heaven, God will apply 
the suffrages to other souls. 



Is it prescribed to bless oneself be- 
fore and after the Consecration during 
Mass ? 

No. Neither is it forbidden. It is 
a private practice of devotion that one 
may follow or not. 



If a mortal sin is forgotten in Con- 
fession, must the person return at once 
to confess it, or at least before receiv- 
ing Holy Communion ? 

As the sin was not wilfully con- 
cealed, it is already forgiven. It is 
sufficient to tell it in the next Con- 
fession. It is not necessary to return 
at once or to go before receiving Com- 
munion. 

Must Sacred Heart badges be blessed 
before they are worn? 
No. . 

May a Catholic woman, who was 
married by a Protestant minister, have 
her children baptized Catholics? 

She is bound to see that they are 
baptized by the priest and brought up 



610 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Catholics. She is bound, also, to have 
her marriage rectified as soon as pos- 
sible. 

What is to be thought of prayers 
said to have been found in the tomb 
of our Lord? 

They are forgeries. It is wrong to 
circulate any prayers that are not ap- 
proved by the Church authorities. 
Many of the chain prayers are super- 
stitious. 

Is the blessing at nuptial Mass the 
same, whether the Mass be high or 
low? 

Yes. 

If a priest is asked to bless several 
pairs of beads, is it necessary to desig- 
nate for whom each pair is intended ? 

No. Each pair is blessed for the 
first person to whom the pair is given 
i!or personal use. 



Can one who has made a vow of 
chastity obtain a dispensation? 

Yes. The confessor should be con- 
sulted. 

May the scapular medal be substi- 
tuted for the scapular, even to gain 
the Sabbatine privilege? 

Yes. 

Can a person who says his rosary 
in the cars gain all the indulgences 
without touching the beads, by simply 
carrying them in his pocket? 

No. 

How can the scapular medal be sub- 
stituted for the scapulars? 

After being invested in the cloth 
scapular, a person may wear a special 
medal instead of the scapular. It must 



be blessed by a priest who has the 
power of investing in the scapulars. 
The medal must have on one side the 
image of our Lord showing His Sacred 
Heart and on the other an image of 
Our Lady. 

Where is the Blessed Sacrament kept 
on Good Friday? 
In a private chapel. 



Does one have to belong to the 
league to wear the Sacred Heart 

badge ? 

Only league members can gain the 
indulgence granted for wearing the 
badge at certain times. But every 
Catholic is allowed to wear the badge. 



In some places the people are taught 
to stand during the singing of the ' ' Pa- 
ter Noster " ; in others they are wont 
to kneel. Which is correct? 

The local custom is to be followed. 



Is it necessary to take holy water 
when leaving the church? 

No. Most people do so and if when 
using it they make the sign of the 
Cross, and say the words, they gain 
an indulgence. 



What is meant by the "Infant Jesus 
of Prague? 

In the Church of St. Mary of Vic- 
tory at Prague there is a wax statue 
of the Infant Jesus brought from 
Spain and given to the Carmelites in 
1623. Many spiritual and temporal 
favors have been granted to those who 
practiced devotion to our Lord at the 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 611 



shrine. Pictures or similar statues are 
venerated in many parts of the world. 
A booklet explaining the origin and 
history of the devotion can be obtained 
from Joseph Shaefer, Barclay St., New 
York. 

Do Sisters take perpetual vows? 

Sometimes. In some orders the vows 
are temporary at first for a few years, 
but in others those taken after the 
novitiate are perpetual. 



If one's gums should bleed in the 
morning before Holy Communion and 
some blood is swallowed, would that 
break the prescribed fast ? 

No. 

Is Loyola a Saint's name? 

Loyola is the family name of St. 
Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the 
Society of Jesus. 



Are indulgences lost if several beads 
of the rosary are lost, or the cross ? 

The indulgences are on the beads; 
when several beads are lost, it is al- 
lowed to put new ones in their place 
without affecting the indulgences. 



Does the Catholic Church allow a 
person to marry his first cousin's 
daughter ? 

Not without a special dispensation. 
These persons are closely related and 
such marriages are not valid, unless a 
dispensation is obtained. 

"Why is the crucifix covered with a 
white cloth on Holy Thursday? 

All the crucifixes, statues and pic- 
tures are veiled in purple on Passion 



Sunday. The veil of the crucifix is 
removed during the ceremonies on 
Good Friday. On Holy Thursday, as 
the Mass commemorates the institution 
of the Blessed Sacrament and white 
vestments are used, a white veil is 
substituted for the purple one. 



May a Mass be offered for the soul of 
a suicide? 

Yes. We are allowed to hope that 
he may have made an Act of Contrition 
before death, even though the circum- 
stances might not warrant Christian 
burial. 

If no indulgence or merit can be 
gained when in mortal sin, what bene- 
fit is derived from prayers by those 
who are in that state? 

Such persons would pray in order to 
obtain the grace of contrition and par- 
don of their sins. God will give them 
the grace to pray and other graces in 
answers to their prayers. 



What does "I. N. R. I." on a cruci- 
fix mean? » 

They are the first letters of the four 
Latin words Jesus Nazarenus Rex 
Judaeorum, meaning "Jesus of Naza- 
reth, King of the Jews ' ' the inscription 
that was placed over our Lord's head 
on the cross. 

What is the meaning of "Lamb of 
God, who takest away the sins of the 
world?" 

In the first chapter of St. John's 
Gospel it is recorded how St. John the 
Baptist when he saw Jesus coming to 
him said : ' ' Behold the Lamb of God, 
behold him who taketh away the sin 



612 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



of the world." Our Lord was called 
*'a lamb" because His death was pre- 
figured in the Paschal lamb, and the 
daily sacrifices in the Temple, but espe- 
cially because of the prophecy of 
Isaias: "He shall be led as a sheep 
to the slaughter and shall be dumb as 
a lamb before his shearer." The 
Church, therefore, uses those words 
about our Lord before Holy Com- 
munion and in the litanies. 



What is the meaning of "Heaven 
and earth shall pass away?" 

"Heaven" means the sky, the ma- 
terial heavens and does not refer to 
the abode of the saints. 



What do the initials "J. M. J." 
stand for? 

Jesus, Mary, Joseph. 



What is the sin against the Holy 
Ghost that is never forgiven? 

There are several explanations of 
our Lord's words. Many think it 
means final impenitence. 



When a child is dedicated to the 
Blessed Virgin, must it wear blue and 
white for seven years ? 

No. 

When one wishes to gain several 
plenary indulgences for which pray- 
ers are prescribed for the intentions 
of the Holy Father, must the prayers 
be repeated for each indulgence? 

Yes. 

What is the Sabbatine privilege? 
The Sabbatine privilege is the prom- 
i*e of special assistance from our 



Blessed Lady for the members of the 
Confraternity of the Scapular of 
Mount Carmel, that is, those who have 
been invested in the brown scapular. 
To gain this privilege one must wear 
the Scapular, observe chastity accord- 
ing to one's state of life, and recite 
daily the Little Office of the Blessed 
Virgin. If one can not read, instead 
of the Office, one must keep the fast 
days prescribed by the Church and 
abstain from meat on Wednesdays and 
Saturdays (except on Christmas Day). 
The obligation of the Office or of ab- 
stinence can be changed by a priest 
who has special faculties. The Little 
Office is given in the Manual of the 
Sodality. 

When was the Apostle Matthias 
chosen ? 

Read the accounts in the Acts of the 
Apostles, chapter 1. He was chosen 
after the Ascension of our Lord be- 
fore the coming of the Holy Ghost. 



Are poor people admitted to an 
audience with the Pope? 

Certainly. Thousands are admitted 
every year. 

Must the prayer for the plenary in- 
dulgence after Communion be said im- 
mediately after receiving? 

No. It is advisable not to put it 
off too long, lest it be forgotten. 



May Mass be celebrated for deceased 
non-Catholics ? 

It is generally held that a priest may 
say Mass privately for a deceased non- 
Catholic, who died with truly probable 
signs that he or she was in good faith 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 613 



and in the state of grace. He may 
not, however, announce the Mass pub- 
licly or say the special prayers pre- 
scribed for the day of death or burial. 



When should the month's mind 
Mass be celebrated? 

It may be celebrated on the thirtieth 
day, reckoning from any day between 
the day of death and the day of burial 
inclusively. 

Is it allowed to have a Mass said for 
the conversion of a non-Catholic? 
Certainly. 

Does the Church consider a mar- 
riage of Protestants before a Protest- 
ant minister to be valid? 

If the two Protestants are not bap- 
tized, their marriage is valid, but is 
not a Sacrament; if they are both bap- 
tized their marriage is valid and a 
Sacrament. If one is baptized and the 
other not, the Church does not regard 
such a marriage as valid. 



May a non-Catholic wear a Sacred 
Heart badge or medal? 

Yes. Our Lord will reward such an 
act of devotion. 



May a non-Catholic be sponsor at 
Baptism? 

No. 

Where was the Blessed Virgin bur- 
ied? 

We have no certain record. One 
tradition is that she died in Jerusalem 
and was buried in Gethsemane. An- 
other report is that she died and was 
buried at or near Ephesus. Her body 



was not allowed to corrupt but was 
taken up into Heaven. The Church 
celebrates this privilege of our Lady on 
the Feast of the Assumption, August 
15th. 

If a priest were to apostatize, would 
he still be able to say Mass ? 

The priest retains his power of of- 
fering up Mass until he dies. An 
apostate or suspended priest who 
would exercise this power, would be 
guilty of sacrilege. 



Has January 1st always been a holy 
day of obligation? 

Yes, since the early days of the 
Church. St. Augustine speaks of its 
celebration as a holy day. 



What are the six holy days of obli- 
gation ? 

In the United States the only holy 
days of obligation are the following 
Feasts : — Christmas, Circumcision, As- 
cension, Assumption, All Saint's and 
Immaculate Coneeptibn 



When one wishes to gain several 
plenary indulgences on the same day, 
for each of which a visit is prescribed 
to the church, will one visit suffice for 
all? 

No. There must be a visit for each 
plenary indulgence. 



Is it proper for a Catholic to eat 
meat in the house of a Protestant 
friend on Friday so as not to offend 
the hostess? 

No. This reason does not excuse 
from the law of the Church which 



614 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



binds under mortal sin. A Catholic 
will be more respected who explains 
that he wishes to live up to his Faith 
and, therefore, abstains from meat on 
Friday. 

What words are to be said when 
looking at the Sacred Host at the Ele- 
vation V 

An indulgence of seven years and 
seven times forty days is granted for 
saying the words : ' ' My Lord and My 
God." 

Do the sponsors of a child become 
spiritually related, so that they may 
not marry each other? 

No. They contract no spiritual re- 
lationship with each other. Hence 
there is no impediment to their mar- 
riage. 

Must I wear five scapular medals in- 
stead of the five scapulars? 

No. It is sufficient if the one medal 
is blessed five times, once for each 
scapular. 

Can I gain the Sabbatine indulgence 
by saying the Rosary instead of the 
Office of the Blessed Virgin? 

No. The Office is prescribed. 



Is it necessary to receive Holy Com- 
munion at the end of a novena ? Will it 
do to receive on one of the nine days 
in order to gain the favor ? 

A novena means the recitation of 
some prayers for nine days. Com- 
munion is sometimes prescribed to 
gain indulgences for making the 
novena. It can be received on any of 
the days. No novena will give infal- 
lible certainty of obtaining a favor. 



We must put ourselves in God's hands 
with confidence that He will do what 
is best either by granting or by with- 
holding the favor. 



Was the use of meat ever allowed 
on Friday? 

The obligation of Friday abstinence 
ceases whenever one of the six holy 
days of obligation falls on Friday. 



How often must frequent communi- 
cants go to Confession? 

For those who are always in the 
state of grace Confession before Com- 
munion is never absolutely necessary. 
If mortal sins have been committed 
since the last Confession, it is not al- 
lowed to receive Holy Communion 
without confessing all such mortal sins. 



How often should frequent com- 
municants go to Confession? 

Weekly. Confession is highly rec- 
ommended, if convenient. If it is not 
easy to get to Confession, frequent 
communicants should go every two 
weeks or once a month. 



How are the Blessed Sacrament 
beads recited? 

A spiritual Communion is made 
while holding the medal and for each 
bead, the aspiration, "Jesus in the 
Blessed Sacrament, have mercy on 
us ! " is recited. 



If a person is willing to confess his 
sins and expects to do so before Mass, 
but finds that the priest has already 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 615 



begun Mass, may he go to Holy Com- 
munion ? 

If he has committed mortal sin since 
his last Confession, he may not receive 
Communion ; if he has no mortal sins 
to confess, he may receive. 



How often must one go to Confes- 
sion to gain all the indulgences for 
which Confession is prescribed? 

By special privilege those who re- 
ceive daily or almost daily may gaiu 
all ordinary indulgences without the 
obligation of Confession. For others 
weekly Confession suffices to gain all 
the indulgences during the week. 



Are the sufferings of the damned in 
proportion to the number of sins on 
the soul at the moment of death ? 

Yes. God "will render to every 
man according to his works." All 
who die in mortal sin are condemned 
to hell, but the pain of the loss of God 
and the pain of sense will have differ- 
ent degrees. . . 

Can a Catholic be married to a 
Protestant in a Protestant church? 

No. Such a marriage is invalid and 
any Catholic attempting it incurs ex- 
communication. In many dioceses the 
sin can be absolved only by special 
authority from the Bishop. 



If one were to get sick to the stomach 
about fifteen minutes after receiving 
Communion, would it be a sin? 

If the sickness is altogether unfor- 
eeen, there could be no intentional ir- 
reverence and hence no sin. Where 



illness is attended by vomiting, the 
doctor is the best judge whether the 
Blessed Sacrament may be received 
without danger of irreverence. 



What prayers are said instead of 
the "Angelus" at certain times of the 
year? 

From Holy Saturday to the Satur- 
day before Trinity Sunday the "Re- 
gina Coeli' ' is recited. It will be found 
in almost every prayer-book. 



Does the Church teach us to have 
little faith in death-bed repentance? 

No. We must not judge. We have 
no right to limit God's mercy. On the 
other hand, sinners must not be guilty 
of presumption and put off their re- 
pentance. . 

How can I say my prayers without 
being distracted? 

If the distractions are not volun- 
tary, you should not worry about them. 
When you find your thoughts have 
wandered away, come back quietly to 
the prayer. Few people are free from 
distractions. 

Is it allowed to cover a Sacred Heart 
badge so as to keep it from being 
soiled? 

Yes. 

Can one gain an indulgence and ap- 
ply it to the living? 
No. 

May a general Confession be made 
outside of the time of a mission or re- 
treat ? 

Penitents should follow the direc- 
tion of their confessors in regard to 



616 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



general confessions. They may be 
made at any time, however, should he 
so advise. Penitents are usually ad- 
vised to repeat any past Confessions. 



If a father dies with unpaid debts 
and his children pay them, will that 
release his soul from Purgatory? 

The debts of one who is dead must 
be paid by his heirs. The obligation is 
transferred to them. The Church does 
not teach that the soul is kept in 
Purgatory until the debts are paid. 



Are all converts baptized when they 
are received into the Church? 

No. If it is certain that the con- 
vert is validly baptized, the Sacrament 
may not be administered again. "Where 
there is any uncertainty, the Church 
makes sure by baptizing, at least con- 
ditionally. 

My father will not allow me to en- 
ter a religious order. What shall I 
do? 

Follow the direction of your con- 
fessor. 

What is the correct response to the 
"Glory be to the Father and to the 
Son and to the Holy Ghost?" 

"As it was in the beginning, is now 
and ever shall be, world without end. 
Amen. ' ' 

How is it determined that holy per- 
sons may be honored as Saints ? 

The process is fully explained else- 
where in this work, and in "The Catho- 
lic Encyclopedia," Volume II, under 
the heading "Beatification and Can- 
onization." It must be proved in each 



ease that miracles have been worked 
through the intercession of the Blessed 
or the Saint. 

Is Mass said in any other language 
but Latin? 

Yes. See article elsewhere in this 
work. (Mass Under Different Rites.) 



Is it wrong to attend theatres in 
Lent and Advent? 

While there is no formal prohibition 
to attend theatres during these sea- 
sons, provided the plays are proper, it 
is against the penitential spirit of the 
Church at these times. 



May priests vote? 
Yes, as citizens. The Church does 
not forbid them. 



Shall we know our friends in 
Heaven ? 

Yes. Read the "Happiness of 
Heaven" by Father Boudreaux, S. J. 



Do the souls in Purgatory know who 
are praying for them? 

It is most probable that they know. 
The Church has not pronounced on 
this point. 

How often must the Little Office be 
recited to gain the Sabbatine priv- 
ilege ? 

Once each day throughout life. 



What is the obligation of the Second 
Degree of the Apostleship of prayer? 

Merely to say one Our Father and 
ten Hail Marys for the intention 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 617 



recommended each month by the Holy 
Father. There is no question of any 
meditation on a mystery of our Lord's 
life. 

Can the Sabbatine privilege be 
gained by those who wear the scapu- 
lar medal in place of the scapular? 

Yes. 

"When a priest refuses to give absolu- 
tion, does he always tell the person? 
Yes. 

Can the Office, recited by the priest, 
be obtained in English? 

An English translation of the Ro- 
man breviary can be obtained. Dur- 
ing the past few years, the Psalms for 
recitation have been rearranged and 
some changes have been made in the 
lessons. 

What prayer is said on the medal 
of the Blessed Sacrament beads? 

A spiritual Communion is made, 
that is, an ardent desire is excited to 
receive our Lord in Holy Communion, 
if that were possible. 



Do some persons receive a revelation 
of the day of their death? 

Some of the Saints have received 
such revelations, but they are most 
exceptional. 

May a Protestant be groomsman at 
a Catholic marriage? 
No. 

May Catholics join the Socialist 
party ? 

No. They can not in conscience vote 
for men who would carry out the prin- 
ciples of Socialism. All good Catholics 



deplore the evils that exist in the in- 
dustrial world today, but the remedy 
proposed by Socialism is based on in- 
justice. 

If I put a new crucifix on my rosary, 
does that affect the indulgences? 

No. The blessing for the indul- 
gences is attached to the beads. 



If parents insist on not giving their 
child a Saint's name in Baptism, what 
does the priest do? 

The priest would simply use a 
Saint's name in the act of baptizing. 



May a non-Catholic make a novena? 
Certainly. God commands all to 
pray. 

Is a priest who gives Communion to 
an invalid bound to fast until after the 
invalid receives Communion? 

No. The obligation of fasting binds 
only the one who receives Holy Com- 
munion. It has no reference to the 
priest who merely distributes Holy 
Communion. 

May a woman be present in church 
without a head covering? 

No. Usage and decorum, based on 
St. Paul's teaching (I Corinthians, 
xi), prescribe that women and girls 
should wear a head covering in 
Church. 

May a religious Superioress bless 
her subjects? 

"A woman, even though an abbess 
or prioress having jurisdiction over 
her nuns, can not bless publicly, since 
the office of benediction comes from the 



618 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



power of the keys, of which a woman 
is incapable. She can, however, bless 
her subjects in the same manner as 
parents are wont to give their blessing 
to their children, but not with any 
sacramental power even though she 
have the right to bear the "crosier." 
Quoted from the Catholic Encyclo- 
pedia, Vol. XV, page 697, article 
"Woman." 

If one has neglected to wear the 
scapulars for some time, must one be 
invested again to gain the indul- 
gences ? 

No. Simply begin to wear them 
again. 

Is it of obligation to make the Eas- 
ter duty in one's own church? 
Not in the United States. 



Is it right to put the letters "J. 
M. J." at the head of letters? 

J. M. J. are initials for Jesus, Mary, 
Joseph. It is proper to put the holy 
names at the head of your letters, if 
you desire to do so. 



What is the origin of the Crosier 
indulgence ? 

The Crosier indulgence of 500 days 
for each Our Father and Hail Mary 
recited on beads that have the blessing 
was first granted by Pope Leo X to the 
Crosier Fathers of Canons Regular of 
the Holy Cross, founded at Liege in 
1211. Any priest, with the approba- 
tion of the Bishop, may obtain facul- 
ties from the Sacred Congregation, 
Rome, to give this blessing. All mem- 
bers of the Priest's Eucharistic League 



have the faculties. Some Bishops have 
obtained these faculties for all the 
priests of their dioceses. Any ordi- 
nary Rosary of our Lady may receive 
the indulgence. 



Does an indulgence of 300 days, ap- 
plied to the souls in Purgatory, mean 
that they will be released 300 -days 
sooner ? 

No. It means such a remission of 
the punishment as would correspond 
to 300 days of penance in the early 
Church. . 

Will the wearing of any medal or 
badge protect one from lightning? 

No. There is no such assurance at- 
tached to any pious object. 



What penance is imposed on a 
Catholic who has been married before 
a minister, but wishes to return to the 
Church ? 

How the scandal must be repaired 
depends on circumstances, and is ar- 
ranged by the Bishop through the con- 
fessor. 

Why are candles lighted around a 

corpse ? 

They are a mark of respect to the 
deceased, whose body was the temple 
of the Holy Ghost and symbols of the 
prayers of the Church that eternal 
light may shine on the deceased in 
splendor and glory for ever. 



Does a man in mortal sin benefit 
from going to Mass? 

He is bound to go to Mass on all 
Sundays and holy days. If he did not 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 619 



go, he would commit a new mortal sin 
each time. Moreover, attendance at 
Mass will bring him many graces, and 
in all probability the grace of contri- 
tion. 

May the promise for making the 
nine Fridays be gained by every Cath- 
olic? 

The promise is not restricted to any 
special class of Catholics. 



Is it necessary to make a general 
Confession ? 

A general Confession, that is, the 
repetition of sins already confessed, is 
never necessary unless previous Con- 
fessions were sacreligious. 



Are forgotten sins forgiven in Con- 
fession ? 

Yes. If the sins that were forgotten 
were mortal, and are afterwards re- 
called, they must be mentioned in the 
next Confession, but they were already 
forgiven. 

How soon should a baby be bap- 
tized ? 

As soon as the Sacrament can con- 
veniently be administered. According 
to approved theologians it would be a 
serious sin if the Baptism of a child 
were put off for a month without good 
reason. 

May one receive Holy Communion 
daily, or several times during the 
week, without being told to do so by 
the confessor? 

Yes. Whenever a Catholic is in the 
state of grace and has a right inten- 
tion, he may receive Communion each 



day. The confessor's advice should be 
asked, and he is told to urge frequent 
Communion. 

What are the prohibited degrees of 
matrimony ? 

Marriage is forbidden, and without 
dispensation is invalid, between those 
who are related by blood to the fourth 
degree. Third cousins and those more 
closely related are included in this 
impediment. 

If a child who had been baptized 
by a Protestant minister were dying, 
would it be necessary to baptize it 
again ? 

If it were sure that Baptism was 
validly given by the minister, the child 
could not be baptized again. If there 
is reason to doubt the validity of the 
first Baptism, then the child should 
be baptized conditionally, saying: "If 
thou art not baptized, I baptize thee," 
etc. 

What indulgences are attached to 
the Way of the Cross ? 

Very great indulgences. It is for- 
bidden to specify definitely what these 
indulgences are. 



Can a widow become a nun ? 

Certainly. St. Jane Prances de 
Chantal was a widow, mother of four 
children. 

Please explain the Church's law 
about marriage of Catholics before a 
magistrate. 

Since Easter, 1908 such marriages 
are invalid in all parts of the United 
States. Before Easter, 1908, they 



620 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



were invalid only where the law of 
;the Council of Trent on clandestinity 
was in force. 

In other parts they might have been 
valid. Particular cases should be re- 
ferred to a priest who can ascertain 
all the circumstances. 



Is it necessary to have the Sacred 
Heart beads blessed to gain the in- 
dulgences? 

No. The indulgences are granted 
for saying of the prescribed prayers 
even without the beads. 



If absolution is refused by a priest, 
may one go to Confession to another 
priest ? 

Yes. It is advisable, however, to 
explain to the second priest that ab- 
solution had been refused. 



Is it necessary to tell the priest the 
intention for which you wish to have 
Masses said? 

No. Simply ask to have the Masses 
said for your intention. 



If a person in mortal sin has Masses 
said, will they be of avail for the sou] 
for whom they are offered? 

The value of the Mass does not de- 
pend on the person who arranges that 
it be said. 

Is it necessary for a girl to have a 
fixed confessor, if she desires to be a 
nun? 

The religious superiors would not 
be likely to receive a girl without the 
recommendation of her confessor. She 



could not obtain this recommendation 
from one to whom she had not been 
confessing regularly. 



Why is a dowry required to enter 
some orders? 

Because provision must be made for 
the support of the nuns. 



Is it necessary to take a name at 
Confirmation ? 

It is customary, but not essential. 



What is the difference between Sis- 
ters and nuns? 

Nuns properly so called have solemn 
vows and strict enclosure. The words 
are often used indiscriminately. 



How late in the day may Mass be 
celebrated? 

According to the general law Mass 
should not be begun after midday. In 
the United States the Bishops may al- 
low priests to begin one hour after the 
time permitted by the general law. 
Midday Masses are celebrated in some 
of our cities during Lent, and on holy 
days of obligation. 

Why is the use of holy water com- 
manded ? 

The use of it is not commanded, but 
piously recommended to the laity. If 
St. John the Baptist, in his baptism of 
penance, and our Lord in His baptism 
of regeneration, have made use of the 
element of water to signify the puri- 
fication of the soul, surely we can not 
make objection if the Church, at the 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 621 



threshold of the house of God and in 
other circumstances, make use of the 
same element to remind the people that 
they must seek purity of soul by re- 
pentance if they desire their prayers 
to be answered by God. 

The use of holy water is very an- 
cient. St. Justin the Martyr, who 
lived in the second century, says in 
the second book of his Apology, that 
every Sunday in their assemblies the 
faithful were sprinkled with holy wa- 
ter. 

Why use lighted candles in day- 
time ? 

Lighted candles in daytime are 
used chiefly as seemly emblematic 
ornament ; and as such need not serve 
any other purpose. A lighted candle 
is an ornament most suited for the 
altar, 1st, because exceedingly primi- 
tive and purely ecclesiastical, which 
many other ornaments are not ; 2nd, 
because the light, the burning and self- 
consuming of the candle, can be taken 
as a beautiful emblem of our faith, 
which must be lively; of our charity, 
which must be burning and diffusive ; 
of our devotion, which, like that of 
Mary Magdalen, must not spare sacri- 
fices. 

Why does the priest wear such rich 
vestments ? 

As to rich vestments, holy Church 
is glad when possible to use them, 
when convenient, in holy functions, 
because it redounds to the honor of 
God. If it is considered dutiful and 
honorable towards a prince that people 
should appear at his court in their 
most distinctive robes and ornaments, 



surely it can not but be right that 
priests, the ambassadors and ministers 
of God, should in public functions ap- 
pear before the altars of God in His 
sanctuary with their rich distinctive 
emblematic vestments. This was pre- 
scribed by God in the Old Law, though 
the priests then made offerings of no 
great intrinsic value, but only figura- 
tive ones. There is still more reason 
for the use of them now that the Lamb 
of God prefigured by them is personal- 
ly and corporally present. All the 
Oriental Churches make use of rich 
vestments and abound in ceremonies. 



A person is worried every time he 
goes to Confession by the remembrance 
of sins already sincerely confessed; 
ought he to confess them again? 

No. Our Lord has forgiven those 
sins. We must trust in His mercy. 
Such worry comes from the bad spirit. 



Why genuflect on entering a 
Church ? 

As to bowing down the body, and 
bending the knee, in sign of reverence, 
the patriarchs and the prophets, and 
even Jesus Christ Himself on earth, 
did the same repeatedly, and this St. 
John saw in a vision done by the twen- 
ty-four elders worshiping in heaven. 



What would have happened if Adam 
had not yielded to temptation? 

. If Eve alone had sinned, we should 
not have incurred original sin, because 
Adam alone, and not Eve, was the 
head of the human race. Hence both 



622 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



tradition and Scripture attribute the 
fallen state to one alone, namely Adam, 
and to this one they contrast the only 
one second Adam, our Lord Jesus 
Christ. Eve therefore was the first 
to give occasion to our ruin, but not to 
effect it. 

Why is music used in our churches? 

As to music and singing, it is what 
the prophet David repeatedly recom- 
mends (see Psalms 97 and 150). And 
why shall we not make music as well 
as other things that give honor and 
glory to God. (See article on Church 
Music). 

Why does the Church insist on "Ex- 
ternal Worship?'' 

Some may object: How is all this 
consistent with those words of our Lord 
to the Samaritan woman. "But the 
hour cometh, and now is, when the 
true adorers shall adore the Father in 
spirit and in truth." (John iv, 23.) 

I answer that external worship, if 
accompanied by the inward spirit, is 
justly said to be worship "in spirit." 
Besides worship "in truth" requires 
external worship, for a man who re- 
fuses also externally with his body to 
adore God, who is the Creator, Pre- 
server, and Benefactor of his body as 
well as of his soul, could not be called 
a "true adorer." The very words 
"adorer" and "adore," imply out- 
ward action of the body. 

When a ceremony — for example, 
kneeling, or striking the breast — is 
done not as a mere matter of form, 
but accompanied by, or as an expres- 
sion of, the mind and heart, then it 



is a ceremony done in spirit, and in 
truth, because it is then dictated by 
the spirit ; it is an effect of the spirit, 
it is an outward expression of the 
spirit ; and therefore it is a worship in 
spirit and in truth; the outward ex- 
pression then corresponds to the in- 
ward feelings, and is a real worship, 
and not a merely formal or an empty 
material action of the body. 

When our Savior in the garden of 
Gethsemane prostrated Himself with 
His face to the ground before His 
heavenly Father, He was setting us 
an example of external worship. 



Why is the Blessed Sacrament kept 
in the tabernacle always? 

The consecration of the Blessed 
Sacrament can only take place during 
Mass, which is celebrated only once 
a day by each priest, and only in the 
morning. If particles were not re- 
served, it might occur that some 
Christians would die without the 
great advantage of receiving this 
sacrament, which when administered 
to those supposed to be in danger of 
death, is called Viaticum, or food for 
the journey. Secondly, in order to 
afford to the faithful the great con- 
solation of having Jesus Christ al- 
ways in the midst of them in the tab- 
ernacle on the altar, to receive their 
visits, adoration, and prayers, and 
to dispense His graces. 

Thus is literally fulfilled the pro- 
phecy of Isaias that the Savior was to 
be called Emmanuel, that is, God with 
us (vii, 14). And also the promise of 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 623 



Jesus Christ Himself that He would 
not leave us orphans. 

The churches where the Blessed 
Sacrament is reserved, as is the case 
in all Catholic parish churches and 
in those of Religious Orders are often 
open, many the whole day long, others 
some hours morning and evening. 
Then the faithful can through the day 
visit the Blessed Sacrament, and pass 
some precious minutes in silent sup- 
plication before God, and in adoration 
of their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 



I received a copy of the chain pray- 
er. Must I copy it and send it on? 
Destroy it. 

What vows does a priest take? 

A secular priest takes the vows of 
chastity and obedience. A priest of 
a religious order, besides these two, 
takes also the vow of poverty. 



Will you acquaint me through your 
Bureau of Information with the 
names of the books of Holy Scripture, 
which are not to be found in the 
Protestant version of the Bible? 

The sacred books rejected by most, 
if not by all, of the Protestant sects 
are those of the Old Testament, seven 
in all. (See chapter on Bible.) 



Is it a sin to mistreat animals? 

The virtue of meekness so strong- 
ly recommended to us by our Savior 
should extend also to animals so as 
never to cause them unnecessary pain. 
The Saints had not only a fervent 
love for the souls of men and an 
anxious care for the poor and suf- 



fering, but had also a tender com- 
passion for every living creature. 
"The just regardeth the lives of his 
beasts ; but the bowels of the wicked 
are cruel." (Proverbs xii, 10.) A 
striking lesson of tenderness towards 
God's creatures is conveyed to us in 
the divine command repeatedly given 
in Exodus xxiii, 19 ; Deut. xiv, 21. 



If a person cannot go to Mass on 
Sunday, what is he obliged to do? 

When a person cannot assist at 
Mass on Sunday, the obligation of 
keeping the day holy is still binding. 
If one cannot keep the day holy in 
the particular manner prescribed, one 
can always do so in some other man- 
ner, viz: by private prayers, reading 
the Gospels or spiritual books, and 
uniting one's heart with God. Many 
persons on these occasions read at- 
tentively the prayers of the Mass, in 
union with the Mass which is being 
said in the church. They hear Mass 
in spirit. Our Lord is always pleased 
with good desires, which, when they 
are real and fervent, are often as ac- 
ceptable to Him as the very deeds 
which they replace. 



The Baptists consider dancing in all 
instances a sin, basing their conten- 
tion on the incident of the behead- 
ing of John the Baptist. 

According to them he was beheaded 
because of the dancing of a girl, the 
daughter of Herodias. Was that the 
real cause of the Baptist's death? 

Dancing is not in itself sinful, al- 
though it is frequently the occasion 



624 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



of sin. The dancing of the daughter 
of Herodias before Herod was not 
the cause of the Baptist's death. John 
was cast into prison and lost his life, 
because he had rebuked king Herod 
for his adulterous marriage with his 
brother's wife. Bead Matt, xiv, 3-10. 
Truth, as the proverb says, is certain- 
ly a very beautiful mother, but she 
often bears a very ugly daughter, 
hatred. St. John's open rebuke 
aroused the hatred and enmity of 
Herodias who demanded his death. 



How can we consider the Blessed 
Virgin as a mediator between God 
and man? 

1. Catholics do not believe that 
there is any other mediator of re- 
demption than our Savior Jesus 
Christ, "For there is no other name 
under heaven given to men, whereby 
we must be saved" than that of Jesus 
(Acts of the Apostles, iv. 12) ; and 
when they call the Blessed Virgin or 
any other Saint a mediator it is not 
in the sense of the mediator of the 
redemption attributed to our Savior, 
but in the sense of intercessor or 
pleader, in which sense any Christian 
may be called a mediator, whenever 
he intercedes or mediates between 
God and his fellow-man, as Abraham 
and Moses and St. Paul did, and thus 
prays for his neighbor. God Himself 
commended Eliphaz and his friends to 
apply to the Patriarch Job that he 
should pray for them, and God prom- 
ised to accept his prayers. "Go to 
My servant Job, and offer for your- 
selves a holocaust ; and My servant 



Job shall pray for you; his fac» I 
will accept, that folly be not imputed 
to you." (Job xlii, 8.) In this sense 
Moses could also say, "I was th« 
mediator, and stood between the 
Lord and you." (Deuteronomy v, 5.) 



Are not indulgences permission to 
commit sin ? 

No. Catholics do not believe that 
there is any authority upon earth or 
in heaven that can give leave to com- 
mit any sin, even the least; or that a 
sin can be forgiven for money; or that 
a priest can give valid absolution to a 
sinner who does not repent and truly 
purpose to forsake sin and amend his 
life. 

Can one merit Heaven unaided? 

Catholics do not believe that a man 
by his own good works, independently 
of the merits and Passion of Jesus 
Christ and of His grace, can obtain 
salvation, or make any satisfaction for 
the guilt of his sins, or acquire any 
merit. 



Is it right to present new articles «f 
faith to members of the church? 

The Church does not present new 
articles of faith to her children. Cath- 
olics do not believe that it is in the 
power of the Church to add to the 
truths contained in the "deposit of 
faith, ' ' that is, to frame or enforce any 
doctrine which has not for its sourea 
the written or unwritten word of God, 
or authority from the same. Nor do 
they believe, when the Church makes 
a definition in matters of faith, that 
thijs definition or article of faith is a 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 625 



new doctrine ; it is only a solemn dec- 
laration and a clearer statement of 
what was believed, at least implicitly 
(that is, in an implied way, or infer- 
entially), in the time of the Apostles, 
though some private persons might 
have doubted it. 



Is it ever permitted to do evil that 
good might result? 

Catholics do not believe that it is 
allowable to break a lawful oath, or 
tell a lie, or do any other wicked thing 
whatever for the sake of promoting 
the supposed interest of anyone or for 
any good, however great, likely to arise 
from it. The false and pernicious 
principle that the end justifies the 
means, or that we may do evil that 
good may come, is utterly condemned 
by the Catholic Church. 



In cases where parents wish their 
children bad luck, will this bad luck 
always fall upon them? 

Not necessarily, for our good for- 
tune depends upon the dispensations 
of Divine Providence. Children, how- 
ever, who by their impious conduct 
provoke their parents to wish them 
evil, certainly cannot expect to enjoy 
God's blessing. The Fourth Com- 
mandment says: "Honor thy father 
and thy mother, that it may be well 
with thee." The best way to honor 
father and mother is by rendering 
them obedience in all things lawful. 



Some Catholics hold that the use of 
scapulars and other things will prefect 



them from death. Is not this practice 
superstitious ? 

The Church encourages the use of 
scapulars, medals, but Catholics do not 
believe that their use will protect them 
from death. 

Every Catholic who has any instruc- 
tion at all from the Church knows that 
his salvation depends entirely on one 
thing; that is, upon his spiritual state 
at the time of his death. He knows 
that if he has committed mortal sins, 
and dies without repenting of them, 
he will go to hell ; but that if he has 
repented of them and has been for- 
given, he will go to heaven, though he 
may have to go to' purgatory first. 

And he knows, too, that the use of 
sacramentals, as these are called, will 
help him, as reminders to live well 
and to die well. The Sacraments alone 
can free him from sin. 



Is the society of "Ladies of the East- 
ern S.ar" condemned by the church? 

Not by name, but since it is an offi- 
cial branch of Masonry, as such it falls 
under the condemnation of that society 
by the Holy See. 



Can paper pictures of the Saints, 
fragile statues, etc., be blessed? 

Objects of this kind are excluded 
from apostolic blessings. Pope Bene- 
dict XV, 1914. 



When Good Friday is a First Fri- 
day, can one who is making the Nine 
Fridays receive on Holy Thursday or 



G26 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Easter Sunday and thus not break the 
chain of nine successive Fridays? 

No. Communion must be received 
on the First Fridays. But since it is 
not possible in this case, the chain is 
not broken, and may be continued the 
next month as if Good Friday did not 
intervene. 

Is the sign of the Cross of recent 
introduction into the Church? 

The sign of the Cross was used in 
the first five centuries as frequently, or 
more so, than today. Tertullian in the 
second century says, "At every fresh 
step and change of place, whenever 
we come in or go out. . . .we impress 
upon our forehead the sign of the 
Cross. 

If a person believes all that the Cath- 
olic Church teaches, and frequents 
Catholic services and fulfills other 
Catholic duties, is he not then a Cath- 
olic, without any need of a formal re- 
ception by a priest? 

No adult Protestant is considered to 
be a convert to the Catholic Church 
until he is received into the Church 
according to the prescribed rite. No 
other way of admitting a non-Catholic 
Christian as a member of the Catholic 
Church was ever known but that of 
absolving him with an external rite 
from ecclesiastical censures (that is, 
certain spiritual disadvantages and 
penalties) resting on him, and of ad- 
mitting him into the Church. This 
rite is performed only by a Catholic 
priest in the name of the Church. 

A foreigner or alien is not consid- 
ered a citizen of the United States un- 



less he has undergone the formalities 
of naturalization making him a citizen, 
and a Christian estranged from the 
Church of God is not, as a rule, reck- 
oned as belonging to the Church — the 
kingdom of God on earth — unless he 
is duly absolved and received into 
membership. 

How does the Church or the priest 
know when a person has been delivered 
from Purgatory? 

The Catholic Church does not pre- 
tend to know anything about the dura- 
tion of the sufferings of Purgatory, 
save that God, who is infinite justice, 
will render to every one the punish- 
ment he deserves. "Thou shalt not go 
out from thence till thou repay the 
last farthing." (Matt, v, 26.) 



What is meant by the "Month's 
Mind Mass." 

By the "month's mind" is under- 
stood what is done for a deceased 
person on the thirtieth day from his 
death. It is a monthly remembrance 
of the departed. The same Mass is 
said as at the funeral, except that a 
few prayers are different. The Chris- 
tian name of the deceased is inserted 
in these prayers. . 

The Church recommends the solemn 
services of religion on such an oc- 
casion, as also on the third and 
seventh day, as well as on the anni- 
versary. A high Mass should be of- 
fered up if it is in any way possible. 
The more solemn the services of re- 
ligion, the more is God thereby hon- 
ored. Moreover the time is favorable 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 627 



for ardent prayer. It is not too close 
to death to cause distraction by its 
necessary accompaniments, nor yet so 
far away as to cool the ardor of love. 
We are possibly better prepared to 
pray at the end of a month than at 
any other time. Do not neglect this 
favorable opportunity. 

We should be careful, therefore, to 
remember the anniversaries of those 
who were near and dear to us. It is 
a Christian duty. We can help the 
departed in no other way than by 
praying for them, and the most effica- 
cious means of rendering them assis- 
tance is the holy Mass, where Jesus is 
sacrificed for the sins of the world. 



Why are the ten commandments 
divided or arranged differently by 
Protestants and Catholics? 

The Scriptures tell us that there 
were ten commandments, but do not 
indicate how they were divided. The 
Protestant division follows rather 
Ex. xx, 1-17, while the Catholic fol- 
lows Deut. v, 6-21. The Catholic di- 
vision is the older and the more logi- 
cal. We hold that desire for another 
man's wife and desire for another 
man's property are two essentially 
distinct crimes, and, therefore, merit 
two separate commandments, the 
ninth and tenth. On the other hand, 
the first commandment insists on the 
virtue of religion and forbids all sins 
against that virtue, the chief of which 
is idolatry. Logically, therefore, the 
Protestant second commandment has 
no reason of being, and was born of 



the exigency of controversy to justify 
the early Reformers. 

The Catholic division (St. Augus- 
tine, St. Clement of Alexandria, St. 
Jerome) is to be found in the works 
of John Huss and Martin Luther. 
(Opera Huss, Nurimbergiae, 1558, p. 
30; Catechism of Dr. Martin Luther 
for Parsons, etc. ; Appendix to Luth- 
er's German Bible; Alcuin, De Decern 
Verbis Legis, Opera, Vol. I, p. 340; 
the Council of Lambeth, A. D. 1281 ; 
the Synod of Exeter, A. D. 1287, and 
books of devotion, written for the 
English people, as "The Festival," 
Eouen, 1499, the "Pilgrimage of Per- 
feceyon, A. D. 1531, "Dives et Pau- 
per," 1496, the catechisms of Eras- 
mus and of Cranmer, 1548, etc., all 
follow the Catholic division.) 



What do you mean by the Immacu- 
late Conception? Is it not a new 
teaching in the Church? 

We do not believe that the Blessed 
Virgin was conceived by the Holy 
Ghost like her Divine Son (Luke i, 
35), but, on the contrary, that she was 
conceived and born as the other chil- 
dren of Adam, of human parents, the 
saintly Joachim and Anne. 

The Bull Ineffabilis of Pius IX, De- 
cember, 1854, declares "that the doc- 
trine which holds that the Blessed 
Virgin Mary, at the very first instance 
of her conception, by a singular grace 
and privilege of the Omnipotent God, 
in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, 
the Savior of mankind was preserved 
free from all stain of original sin, has 
been revealed by God, and, therefore, 



628 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



should firmly and constantly be be- 
lieved by all the faithful." 

It is false to call this a new teach- 
ing, for the feast of the Immaculate 
Conception had been celebrated since 
the seventh century, and the Fathers 
of the first five centuries either imply 
her absolute sinlessness or set it forth 
in express terms. Thus St. Ephrem, 
in a passage of his Carmina Nisibena, 
first discovered and published in 1866: 
"Verily indeed Thou and Thy Mother, 
alone are you, in being in every respect 
altogether beautiful. For in Thee, 
Lord, is no spot, nor any stain in Thy 
Mother" (Livius, "Blessed Virgin in 
the Fathers," p. 232). This dogma 
was not defined until the year 1854, 
but definition does not create a 
dogma, but puts it for ever out of the 
domain of controversy, as giving a 
divine, infallible witness to its truth. 



What is the Vesper Service? 

It is a part of the divine office 
which every priest is bound to say 
daily for the glory of God and the 
good of the Universal Church. It is 
made up of five psalms, which vary 
according to different feasts (general- 
ly Pss. 109-113), a hymn, the Mag- 
nificat (Luke i, 46-55), and some ap- 
propriate prayers. In the convents 
of the old religious orders the entire 
office is sung every day (Matins, 
Lauds, Prime, Tierce, Sext, None, 
Vespers, and Compline), but because 
of its great length only Vespers is 
sung in the Catholic churches of to- 
day, in accordance with the practice 
of primitive Christianity: "speaking 



to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, 
and spiritual canticles, singing and 
making melody in your hearts to the 
Lord." (Eph. v, 19; Col. iii, 16.) 



Why do you claim to be a holy 
Church, when you must admit that 
many leaders in your Church — Popes, 
Bishops and priests — have been cor- 
rupt and wicked men? Christ said: 
"By their fruits you shall know 
them." (Matt, vii, 16.) 

We readily admit that there have 
been a few wicked leaders in the 
Church, a few Popes out , of a long 
line of 262 illustrious Pontiffs, many 
of whom lived lives of heroic sanctity, 
and even died for the faith of Christ. 
There was a Judas amongst the 
twelve Apostles. Some Cardinals, 
Bishops, and prelates in high places 
have also been guilty of grave moral 
disorders. Worldliness, pride, avarice, 
lust and intemperance have chara3- 
terized some pastors of God's people, 
as the history of the few ex-priests 
from the Reformers down to the lat- 
est scandal in the daily newspaper 
clearly shows. 

But people do not judge an apple 
tree because they find rotten fruit on 
the ground beneath it. Neither should 
the church be judged because of the 
few men who have gone wrong — few 
indeed in comparison to the number 
who have served her in the long cen- 
turies of her existence. And remem- 
ber that the best argument that the 
Church is Divine is found in the fact 
that those bad men did not at any 
time teach wrong doctrines. "Th* 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 



629 



testimony of history" writes Dean 
Maitland, "is that the monks and 
clergy were at all times better than 
other people." 



What is an Agnus Dei? 

It is a little emblem of blessed wax, 
enclosed in a silken covering, worn by 
Catholics to remind them of Jesus 
Christ, "the lamb of God, who taketh, 
away the sins of the world." (John i, 
29.) 

By what right does your Church 
preach what cannot be found in the 
Bible? 

Because the origin of our faith is 
not the Bible alone, but the Church 
which gives us both the written and 
the unwritten word. St. Paul speaks 
of "traditions learned by word and 
by epistle." (TI Thess. ii, 14.) Christ 
rebuked the Pharisees for setting up 
their own views, viz., regarding the 
Sabbath, as part of the divine revela- 
tion. Still the Jews held by divine 
tradition many truths that were not 
set forth in the Scriptures, e. g., the 
canon and inspiration of the Old 
Testament. 

So in the New Law, Catholics be- 
lieve some things not in the Scrip- 
tures, although wholly in accord with 
them, because of the infallible witness 
of the Church as to their divine or 
apostolic origin. "Why do Protestants 
accept the Scriptures as inspired? 
Why do they honor the first day of 
the week instead of the seventh? Why 
do they baptize children? Contrary 
to their principles they must look out- 
side the Bible to the voice of tradi- 



tion, which is not human, but divine, 
because guaranteed by the divine in- 
fallible witness of the truth, which 
is the Catholic Church. 



Why did the monks chain the Bible 
in the Middle Ages? 

To save it from thieves. Why do 
people chain a cup to the town-pump, 
or a city directory to a desk in a 
drug-store? This is readily under- 
stood when one considers how valu- 
able a copy of the Scriptures was in 
those days owing to the fact that they 
were copied out .word for word by 
the monks. Whole libraries were 
chained in this way, both in England 
and on the Continent. What great 
ignorance of history is shown by 
those who imagine that "the chained 
Bible" implied that the Bible was 
only accessible to a few monks, who 
were under orders from the Pope to 
keep it from the people as far as pos- 
sible ! How prejudice will read into 
facts its own false inferences! 



Do Catholics believe that, provided 
they go to church Sunday morning, 
they can do what they please the rest 
of the day? 

No. Besides the obligation of at- 
tending Mass every Sunday under 
penalty of grievous sins, Catholics are 
also forbidden all unnecessary servile 
work in order to give the needed rest 
to the body, and in order to devote a 
certain part of the day to God. Ee- 
membering, however, the words of 
Christ, "The Sabbath was made for 
man and not man for the Sabbath" 



630 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



(Mark ii, 27) the Catholic Church 
does not prohibit servile work that is 
absolutely necessary, nor frown down 
innocent amusements. There is naught 
of the Pharisee or the Puritan about 
her. 

When was the word Catholic first 
used? "When Protestant? 

Does not the word Eoman localize 
your Church and plainly deny it as 
the Catholic Church? Is not Roman- 
Catholic a contradiction in terms? 

The Church of Christ has been called 
Catholic as early as the beginning of 
the second century or the end cf 
the first. St. Ignatius Martyr in his 
letter to the people of Smyrna (n. 8) 
says: "Where the Bishop is there let 
the multitude of believers be ; even 
as where Jesus Christ is, there is the 
Catholic Church." 



For what reason does a priest for- 
bid Catholics to attend non-Catholic 
churches? Should not an honest per- 
son study both sides? 

Protestants are invited by us to 
listen to the explanation of Catholic 
doctrine and the answers to their 
difficulties, because we know that they 
can attend without violating any 
principle of their Protestantism, 
which is a religion of fallible, private 
opinion. Disclaiming infallibility, a 
logical Protestant must necessarily be 
in the attitude of a seeker after truth. 
He usually says "that one church is 
as good as another" because he lacks 
the divine Avitness to the unique 
Christianity Jesus founded. He is 



often a doubter, who questions at 
times whether or not the old histori- 
cal Church may be right. 



Are the Blessed Sacrament beads 
approved ? 

The Blessed Sacrament beads were 
approved by Pope Pius X on May 30, 
1911. The Holy Father has granted 
to the entire world an indulgence of 
300 days each time the approved ejac- 
ulation is recited on each of the 33 
beads. Those who say the Blessed 
Sacrament beads daily, share in the 
Mass said every Thursday and Fri- 
day. Further it is suggested that the 
indulgenced ejaculation "Jesus in the 
Blessed Sacrament, have mercy on 
us," be repeated every time the clock 
strikes. The Blessed Sacrament beads 
can be said any time or place. Spir- 
itual Communion can be made by say- 
ing, "As I cannot receive Thee, my 
Jesus, in Holy Communion, come, 
spiritually, into my heart and make 
it Thine own, forever." 

The approved ejaculation to be said 
on each of the 33 beads is, "Jesus, in 
the Blessed Sacrament, have mercy 
on us. " 

What is a Third Order? 

Some of the religious orders of the 
Church have associated with them 
men and women who live in the world, 
but strive to live a holy life accord- 
ing to the modification of a religious 
rule. They join the third order, for 
example of St. Dominic, of St. Francis, 
of the Carmelites, etc. The religious 
men constitute the first order; the 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 631 



cloistered nuns belong to the second 
order. Some religious congregations 
also follow a third order rule. 



If a friend uses my beads, must 
they be blessed again for me? 

Your friend gains no indulgences 
from your beads. If used without 
your permission the beads retain the 
blessing for you. If you lent them to 
have your friend gain the indul- 
gences, all the indulgences ceased. If 
lent merely to oblige a friend, the 
beads retain all the indulgences. 



What is the origin and the idea of 
using candles? 

St. Luke in Act xx, 7, mentions the 
great number of lamps which burned 
in the upper chamber where St. Paul 
"continued his speech until mid- 
night." Christian assemblies were 
held at night during the persecutions 
and lights were necessary. A sym- 
bolical meaning was soon attached to 
the candle-stick by the early Chris- 
tians, and perhaps this accounts for 
the fact that the Church keeps the 
candles lighted during the holy mys- 
teries, even after they were no longer 
necessary to dispel the darkness. St. 
Jerome tells us of lights burning when 
the Gospel was read. St. Gregory 
speaks of lights borne by candidates 
for baptism, while many writers con- 
firm the use of candles at Mass. 

The present custom of the Church 
requires that candles be lighted on 
the altar from the beginning to the 
end of Mass. The candles must be of 
pure wax, two for a low Mass, six 



at a High Mass and at least twelve 
for Benediction. Candles must be 
lighted when Communion is given, 
whether in Church or to the sick in 
the home. One candle must be lighted 
when Extreme Unction is adminis- 
tered. 

Do bad Catholics make the Church 
bad? 

Rev. H. G. Graham in the Mission- 
ary Gazette (April, '16), answers the 
question : ' ' How is it that there are so 
many bad persons in the Church?" 
He says : 

"The holiness of the Church is 
shown, not in the lives of its bad mem- 
bers, but in its good ones. The proper 
criterion of the Church's success in 
this sphere is to look at the lives of 
those who faithfully obey her teach- 
ing, not those who violate it. A bad 
Catholic is a bad man because he is 
neglecting his religion ; a good Cath- 
olic is a good man because he is prac- 
ticing it. The one is a real product of 
Catholicity, the other is a product of 
his own sin. Take those who scrupu- 
lously adhere to the doctrines and 
practices of the Church and who act 
them out to the smallest details, and 
you have holy people, saints whether 
canonized or not. These are the gen- 
uine fruit of the good tree of Cath- 
olicity; these the Church recognizes as 
her faithful children, her legitimate 
offspring; the others are rotten, de- 
caying branches, £or whose rotten- 
ness the Church takes no responsi- 
bility. Obviously, she cannot claim 
both as being equally faithful to her 
teaching. To make good his argu- 



632 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



ment, then, the Protestant would need 
to prove that bad Catholics are bad 
people because they are taught to be, 
bad; that their badness is the logical 
result of the Church's instruction 
which they are faithfully following 
out; in short, that what they and we 
call bad Catholics are really good 
Catholics." 

Is it permitted for Catholics to take 
an oath, when voting, for instance? 

Yes. Our catechism tells us that we 
may do so, whenever "God's honor, 
our own or our neighbors' good de- 
mands it." If a Catholic is entitled 
to vote, he may take oath, when called 
upon to affirm his identity, because 
this clearly may be understood as 
something for "his own good." One 
may make use of the oath only when 
it is absolutely necessary, however, and 
with deliberation. 



What is perjury? 

Perjury is confirming by oath a 
statement which one knows to be un- 
true either wholly or in part. Swear- 
ing to do something although one is 
conscious that he cannot fulfill the 
promise is also included. Swearing 
falsely is a mortal sin. Rash swear- 
ing is at least a venial sin. God pun- 
ished perjury severely in the old days. 
The law of the land punishes it every- 
where with imprisonment. If a man 
has sworn wrongfully, he must not 
keep his oath, but deplore it. The 
breaking of an oath, that is, the non- 
fulfillment of a promise made under 
oath, may be either venial or mortal 
according to the matter concerned. 



One's confessor is the best adviser 
in all matters as to the gravity of an 
oath, and perjury. 



What is the Devotion of the Fifteen 
Saturdays in honor of the Blessed 
Virgin? 

Certain indulgences are granted to 
those who confess, receive Holy Com- 
munion and say five decades of the 
Rosary on fifteen consecutive Satur- 
days. Instead of the five decades a 
meditation may be made. Particulars 
of indulgences may be found in de- 
votional books of the Blessed Virgin. 



To what race did St. Joseph be- 
long? 

St. Joseph was a Hebrew, a de- 
scendant of the family of King David. 
St. Matthew gives his father's name 
as Jacob. St. Luke says he "was of 
Heli. " The explanation of this seem- 
ing contradiction is found in the sup- 
position that according to the Hebrew 
law Jacob married the widow of Heli, 
who had died without children. 
Jacob's son, Joseph, was reputed in 
the law as the son of Heli. His 
mother's name is not known. 



What is the regulation in regard 
to the use of an organ in the Church? 

The decree of Pope Pius X on 
Church music says, "Although the 
music proper to the Church is purely 
vocal music, music with the accom- 
paniment of the organ is also per- 
mitted. In some special cases, within 
due limits and within the proper re- 
gards, other instruments may be al- 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 633 



lowed, but never without the special 
license of the Ordinary." The organ 
on account of its power and fullness 
lends itself admirably to the majesty 
of the Divine service. 



What is meant by the "Stigmata?" 

By this term is meant the impres- 
sion of marks similar to the wounds 
of our Divine Lord upon the body of 
some Saint. St. Francis of Assisi, for 
instance, on his hands, feet and side 
bore the marks of the "five wounds," 
of our Savior. These marks are 
called the "Stigmata." 



Can a non-Catholic enter Heaven? 

Certainly. The only condition for 
entering Heaven is to be in a state of 
grace. A non-Catholic may be in 
good faith. If he lives up to the light 
he has received and before death 
makes an act of perfect contrition 
for his sins he will be saved. 



Is it a sin to refuse to follow a 
religious vocation? 

Usually one is not bound to follow a 
religious vocation under pain of sin. 
It is, however, dangerous to neglect 
such a call. 

To whom do priests go to confes- 
sion? 

Each priest confesses to some other 
priest. From their seminary days 
they are accustomed to confess week- 

ly- 

In the marriage ceremony does the 
woman promise to obey her husband? 
In the Catholic marriage rite there 



is no mention of obedience. It is not 
necessary. According to the law of 
God, the husband is the head of the 
house, to whom the wife owes love, 
reverence and obedience as to a super- 
ior. This is the clear teaching of St. 
Paul (Ephes. v, 22-24). 



How does Easter Water differ from 
Holy Water? 

The water blessed on Holy Satur- 
day, in connection with the blessing 
of the Baptismal Font, is called Eas- 
ter Water. Some of it, before re- 
ceiving the special blessing as bap- 
tismal water, is set aside for dis- 
tribution to the faithful for use in 
their homes. It is not a substitute for 
Holy Water, which is intended for use 
at all times. 

Are the Ruthenian Catholics under 
the Pope? 

Yes. Special regulations have been 
made by the Holy Father in regard 
to the Ruthenian Catholics. See 
article on "Greek Catholics in Amer- 
ica," in Chap. 2. 



Why are Ruthenian Catholic priests 
allowed to marry? 

They are not allowed to marry. 
What is allowed is that married men 
may become priests of the Ruthenian 
Rite. This has been modified in re- 
gard to those ordained in this coun- 
try. 

Why do people light candles before 
a statue or altar? 

As a mark of devotion to our Lord 
or His Saints. "The candle burning 



634 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



its life out before a statue is no doubt 
felt in some ill-defined way to be 
symbolical of prayer or sacrifice." 



Is there any Purgatory after the 
last judgment? 

No. All the temporal punishment 
will be expiated and all souls who 
have died in the state of grace will be 
in Heaven. 

What is the benefit of the Nuptial 
Mass? 

A special blessing is given during 
the Nuptial Mass which can be given 
at no other time. The Church desires 
that all Catholic marriages should be 
so solemnized. 

Marquis Lafayette is reported to 
have said: "If ever the liberties of 
the country are destroyed it will be 
by Romish priests." "What are the 
facts in this case? 

This is a fraud perpetrated by anti- 
Catholic papers. The Cincinnati En- 
quirer (June, 1855) quoted by Our 
Sunday Visitor, tells of its existence 
then, and refutes it as a "Know 
Nothing lie. The expression "if ever 
the liberties," quoted above, was dug 
out of a letter from which Lafayette 
read only to refute the scandalous 
statement. 

The lie had its origin with a certain 
professor who claimed to have been 
urged by Lafayette to warn the 
American people against priests. The 
Enquirer conducted an enquiry into 
the facts of the case with this con- 
clusion: "We assure the public that 
it can place the most implicit confi- 
dence in the Enquirer's communica- 



tion concerning the Lafayette for- 
gery." 

As the Enquirer is not a Catholic 
paper, this should settle the mattei. 



Three presidents of the United 
States were assassinated by Catholics, 
so the anti-Catholic press screams at 
intervals. 

The truth is, Our Sunday Visitor 
states, that not one assassin was a 
Catholic. The facts are these. Presi- 
dent Lincoln was killed by John 
Wilkes Booth. President Garfield 
found death at the hands of Guiteau. 
President McKinley was shot by 
Czolgosz. 

Both Guiteau and Czolgosz were 
haters of Catholicity. No church or 
creed is to be held responsible for 
their acts. In Guiteau 's case his 
brother-in-law, one Chas. G. White, 
St. Johns, Michigan, has made affi- 
davit that the murderer was a Prot- 
estant and that he was insane in the 
belief that God wanted him to kill 
Garfield. 

Booth, the actor, killer of Lincoln, 
was a member of an English church 
family. He was twenty-six when he 
shot the President. He is buried in 
Greenmount, a non-sectarian ceme- 
tery at Baltimore. The story, started 
by "ex-priest" Chiniquy, that Booth 
was a tool of the Jesuits, conspiring 
with them to murder Lincoln, has no 
more foundation in fact than is gen- 
erally required by lecturers and pa- 
pers of the anti-Catholic order. 

In the case of Czolgosz, there is no 
higher authority than the biographer 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 635 



of McKinley, Tyler, a non-Catholic, 
who reports that Czolgosz had been 
a student of anarchy who did not be- 
lieve in government or in any church 
or in the marriage relation. (P. 463.) 

"He declined to see a minister or 
priest of any denomination," the bi- 
ographer goes on. "He died without 
religious ministration." 



Is it true that a certain paper called 
the National Catholic Register some 
years ago openly admitted that the 
Pope had designs on control of the 
American government? 

There is not in existence, nor has 
there ever been any such paper as the 
National Catholic Register. This can 
be verified by reference to postoffice 
records, which require registration 
of all papers before use of the mails 
is granted. 

This invention of anti-Catholics, 
upon which the question is based, ap- 
pears to have been circulated in leaf- 
let form in certain places, evidently 
from the press of anti-Catholics, who 
wished their story to appear as being 
circulated in a Catholic paper. They 
had no conscience about inventing a 
so-called Catholic paper. The lie was 
copied by many reputable papers, 
even church papers, who of course 
did not know its questionable source. 

The article may be judged from the 
opening paragraph, which we quote : 

"It is God's plan that the Holy 
Father of Rome should be the tem- 
poral and spiritual head of His king- 
dom on earth. It is the same today 
as in the time of the first Pope. The 



best way to accomplish this is through 
political power, through religious edu- 
cation and service. God has doubly 
blessed the Catholic Church of Amer- 
ica by placing one of its most faith- 
ful sons at the right hand of Presi- 
dent Wilson, etc." 

There is more of the same, mostly 
attack upon Masons. Certain Masonic 
papers gave it circulation, among 
them the Crescent, published in Chi- 
cago, whose editor when questioned 
by a New World (Catholic) represen- 
tative, admitted that he knew there 
was no such Catholic paper in exist- 
ence, but claimed that the origin of 
the original pamphlet was Catholic. 
This, of course he could not prove, 
and it is not true. 

Refutation of the lie is contained 
in the Kansas City Freemason, Dec. 
17, 1920, whose editor states that he 
is convinced that the article was writ- 
ten and subtlely circulated for mean 
propaganda purposes. 



"Is it true that Abraham Lincoln 
once declared that the only influence 
he feared for America was that of 
Rome and the Catholic Church?" 

Our questioner probably refers to a 
statement supposed to have been made 
by Lincoln somewhat to this effect : 
"I do not intend to be a prophet, but 
I see a very dark cloud on our hori- 
zon, and that cloud is coming from 
Rome." 

Now President Lincoln never wrote 
or made such a statement. Pastor 
Chiniquy first uttered this charge 
about seventy years ago, so freely 



636 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



exploited since. Yet the quotation 
will not be found in history. It has 
no foundation in fact. 

Strange to say it is refuted by a 
man who has been antagonistic to 
the Church on other points. Ex- 
Senator Thos. E. Watson of Georgia 
was asked by an encyclopedia pub- 
lisher, Nelsons, New York, if he could 
set them right as to the authority for 
this so-called statement. Mr. Watson 
answered that he had never seen the 
letter published in which the state- 
ment was supposed to have been 
made, that he had no confidence in 
it himself, that he had never used it, 
and that he believed it was fabricated 
after Lincoln's death. 

More conclusive proof is, however, 
found in a letter of Eobert Lincoln 
to the editor of Our Sunday Visitor 
some years ago. In response to re- 
quests for information, Mr. Lincoln 
made exhaustive search through his 
father's papers, and he declared the 
above charge to be a "simple inven- 
tion." 

A Masonic friend states that he 
saw in a journal of his order that the 
Pope gave official recognition to the 
southern confederacy. 

Our questioner no doubt refers to 
another Lincoln forgery which is 
found in the columns of the New Age, 
Masonic publication at Washington, 
in which Mr. Lincoln is quoted as fol- 
lows : 

"I have the proof that Archbishop 
Hughes, whom I had sent to Rome 
that he might urge the Pope to induce 
the Roman Catholics of the North, at 



least, to be true to their oaths of alle- 
giance, and whom I thanked publicly, 
when under the impression he had 
acted honestly according to the prom- 
ise he had given me, is the very man 
who advised the Pope to recognize the 
legitimacy of the southern confed- 
eracy and put the weight of his tiara 
in the balance against us in favor of 
our enemies. Such is the perfidy of 
Jesuits." 

For authority the New Age cites 
"Americanism or Romanism, Which?" 
a book of the Menace type. 

Our Sunday Visitor tells the story. 

It is a matter of common familiar- 
ity to all who know anything at all 
about the subject, first, that Lincoln 
did not send Archbishop Hughes to 
Rome, but to France ; second, that his 
mission had no reference to the Cath- 
olics in this country, but was to help 
to prevent France and England from 
forming an alliance to recognize and 
aid the South, as was being discussed 
in foreign diplomatic circles at the 
time ; third, that the Pope acted 
toward our government in a manner 
probably more satisfactory than any 
of the great European powers; fourth, 
that Archbishop Hughes was not a 
Jesuit, as none would know better 
than Lincoln and Secretary Seward, 
one of his most intimate friends. 

Humphrey Desmond, editor of the 
Catholic Citizen, Milwaukee, writes in 
Truth on this matter : 

"Agents of the southern confeder- 
acy appeared at all the capitals of 
Europe, after the outbreak of the re- 
bellion, soliciting "recognition." We 



PRACTICAL QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS. 637 



know that they were somewhat suc- 
cessful in London and Paris. In the 
interchange of some diplomatic cor- 
respondence, Pope Pius IX politely 
addressed Jefferson Davis by the of- 
ficial title that gentleman claimed to 
possess as President of the Confed- 
erate States. This simple act of civil- 
ity is all there is in the allegation 
that Pius IX 'recognized the south- 
ern confederacy'." 

This incident is fully discussed by 
John Bigelow, ex-minister of the 
United States to France, in the North 
American Review for October, 1893. 
Mr. Bigelow sees no more reason why 
the Pope's civility in addressing 
Davis as "President, etc." should be 
construed as a "recognition of the 
southern confederacy" than his ad- 
dressing the Anglican Archbishop of 
Canterbury by that gentleman's offi- 
cial title would "recognize the Estab- 
lished Church of England." 

There are certain faked quotations 
quite freely circulated which are said 
to have been written or spoken by 
Catholic prelates. Our Sunday Vis- 
itor comments upon them as follows: 

"No fake quotations have been so 
widely circulated by antagonists of 
the Catholic Church as those relating 
to the public schools. "We reproduce 
a few samples of them, each followed 
by self-evident comment. 

" 'We must take part in the elec- 
tions, move in solid mass in every 
state against the party pledged to 
sustain the integrity of the public 
schools.' — Cardinal McClosky. 



"Cardinal McCloskey (not Mc- 
Closky) never uttered those word3. 
The poor man has been dead for 
thirty-eight years, and hence he him- 
self cannot contradict the forger. But 
no prelate of the Catholic Church ever 
stultified himself by giving such or- 
ders, which would not have been 
obeyed even if given. 

" 'The state has no right to edu- 
cate, and when the state undertakes 
the work of education it is usurping 
the power of the Church.' — Bishop 
McQuade, in a lecture in Boston, Feb. 
13, 1876. 

"Bishop McQuaid (not McQuade) 
has also gone to his reward. Why go 
back to 1876 (forty-six years ago) to 
secure evidence to convict the Catho- 
lic Church today? 

" 'The day is not far distant when 
Catholics, at the order of the Pope, 
will refuse to pay the school tax and 
will send bullets into the breasts of 
the officials who attempt to collect 
them.' — Mngr. Cappell. 

"Who is Mngr. (Msgr., I suppose) 
Cappell? His name does not appear 
in the Directory of Catholic priests 
and prelates. Granting that he lived 
forty or fifty years ago, he never ut- 
tered these words. 

" 'Education must be controlled by 
Catholic authorities, and under educa- 
tion the opinions of the individuals 
and utterances of the press are in- 
cluded, and many opinions are to be 
forbidden by the secular arm, under 
the authority of the church even to 
war and bloodshed.' — Priest Hecker, 



638 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



quoted by 'Catholic World,' July 
1870. 

"While the spuriousness of this 
quotation is plain at first sight, we 
took the trouble to consult the issue 
of the Catholic World, date of July, 
1870, and find nothing that bears any 
resemblance to this forged paragraph. 

" 'The common schools of this 
country are sinks of moral pollution 
and nurseries of hell.' — The 'Chicago 
Tablet' 

"There is no such paper as the 
'Chicago Tablet.' 

" 'The public schools have pro- 
duced nothing but a Godless genera- 
tion of thieves and blackguards.' — 
Priest Schaner. 

"Who is 'Priest Schaner,' please? 

"Numerous other utterances are 
ascribed to Catholic priests and pre- 
lates, who either never lived at all or 
who have been dead for many years." 

A sample of political literature 
sent out broadcast at election time 
by those who make capital out of in- 
jection of religious issues into politics 
is given in a recent issue of Our Sun- 
day Visitor: 

Politics, as you know, says the 
Huntington, Ind., defender of the 
faith, are proverbially "dirty," but 
could you conceive of anything more 
dirty and despicable than the fabri- 
cation and circulation of such state- 
ments as these by Catholic haters? 
These statements are usually pub- 
lished in the form of hand-bills and 
are distributed from house to house 
during the dark of night on the eve 
of an election. The name signed to 



the dodger is usually that of a non- 
existing organization. The circular 
reads as follows: 

"Catholics Beware! 

"The so-called 'good government' 
and 'anti-machine' tickets circulated 
during the past few days are not what 
they purport to be. They are the in- 
sidious propaganda of the unholy he- 
retic orders — Freemasons. Odd Fel- 
lows, Knights of Pythias, Orangemen, 
Knights of Luther, and last and most 
villainous of all, that cowardly hooded 
band — the Ku Klux Klan. 

"Remember the injunction of the 
Holy Church, as voiced by Bishop 
Gilmour, 'Nationalites must be sub- 
ordinated to religion and we must 
learn that we are Catholics first and 
citizens next.' 

"Vote only for Catholics or those 
who are known to be broadminded 
in their attitude towards the Holy 
Church. Do not toss your vote to the 
enemies of our cause by supporting a 
single candidate whose name is pub- 
lished on the good government ticket. 
"Catholic Welfare League." 

Needless to say, there is no such or- 
ganization as the "Catholic Welfare 
League." The whole thing is a fab- 
rication to lead non-Catholics to be- 
lieve that Catholics are really work- 
ing as the circular indicates. The 
fabricators hope to arouse non-Catho- 
lics to vote as they wish. 

May a priest say Mass without any 
other person being present? 

Yes. Priests in our country have 
the necessary permission to say Mass 
even without a server. 



CHAPTER XXV. 



Dictionary of Catholic Terms. 

Under this heading are grouped, in alphabetical arrangement, a brief, concise 
explanation of terms met in Catholic practices. Many, already considered at 
length in this work, are again listed for convenience of reference. Others of 
lesser importance are added. Every attempt has been made to present information 
in short form, providing a handy book of reference for busy people. 



ABBOT. — The head of one of the 
large monasteries ; he is specially 
blessed ; often has the right to wear a 
mitre. 

ABJURATION. — The renouncing, 
of false doctrine required from heretics 
on their being reconciled to the 
Church. 

ABLUTION.— Washing, a term 
especially applied to the purifying of 
the priest's fingers after the Com- 
munion in the Mass. 

ABSOLUTION. — The forgiveness 
of sins by the priest in the Sacrament 
of Penance. 

ABSTINENCE, DAYS OP.— When 
meat is not permitted. 

ACCIDENTS, EUCHARISTIC. — 
Though an accident cannot naturally 
exist by itself, in the Holy Sacrament 
the accidents of bread and wine re- 
main after these substances have 
ceased to exist, being sustained by 
divine power. Our Lord is to them 
instead of a substance. They lean 
upon Him, yet do not touch Him : and 



as in the Incarnation the Sacred Hu- 
manity has no human person to sup- 
port it, so in Transubstantiation the 
accidents are without a substance to 
uphold them. 

ACOLYTE.— One of the minor or- 
ders; term also used for servers at 
the altar in general. 

ACTUAL GRACE.— The supernat- 
ural aid necessary for any good ac- 
tion. 

ACTUAL SIN. — Every sin which 
we ourselves commit. Actual sin ?s 
divided into mortal and venial sin. 

AD LIMINA APOSTOLORUM.— 
To the threshold of the Apostles, a 
term used for visits to Rome espe- 
cially those made officially by bishops 
and others. 

ADORATION OP THE CROSS.— 
Part of the office on Good Friday, 
when the Crucifix is unveiled, and 
kissed by the clergy and people. 

ADVENT. — First or second coming 
of Christ; the penitential season be- 
fore Christmas. 



640 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



AFFINITY.— All who are related 
by blood to the husband are related 
in the same degree, by affinity, to the 
wife ; and vice versa. In baptism and 
confirmation the minister and the 
sponsors contract a spiritual affinity 
with the child and its parents, so 
that between them no marriage can 
be lawfully or validly contracted. 

AGNOSTIC. — One who disclaims 
any knowledge of God, or of the or- 
igin of the universe. 

AGNUS DEL— A triple prayer oc- 
curring in the Mass and at the end of 
litanies: wax stamoed with the image 
of the "Lamb of God," and blessed 
by the Pope every seventh year. 

ALB. — A vestment of white linen 
reaching to the feet Avorn by the priest 
at Mass. It is symbolical of inno- 
cence. 

ALIENATION.— The transfer to 
another of dominion, usufruct or right 
as to property ; alienation of ecclesias- 
tical goods is forbidden by divine, 
civil and canon law unless with just 
cause, dup formality observed, and 
the consent of the Holy See. 

ALLELUIA. — From two Hebrew 
words meaning "Praise the Lord/' 
an ejaculat'on used during joyful sea- 
sons. St. John heard the angels sing- 
ing in heaven (Apoc. xix, 1), and in 
St. Jerome's time children were 
taught it as soon as they could speak, 
and the Christian peasants in Pales- 
tine sang it at the plough. It is al- 
ways used in the Mass between the 



Epistle and Gospel except during 
times of penance. 

ALL SAINTS.— Feast November 
1st. This originated at the dedication 
of the cleansed and purified Pantheon 
at Rome under the title of S. Maria 
ad Martyres in 701 ; it was later ex- 
tended to the Universal Church as a 
feast of all the Saints in Heaven. 

ALL SOULS. — The commemoration 
of all the faithful departed on No- 
vember 2nd; the Mass is that for the 
Dead, and the Office of the Dead is 
added to that of the day- All altars 
are privileged on that day. 

ALMS FOR MASS.— Money given 
for saying a Mass; not as a price 
(which would be simony) but as alms 
for the support of the priest (I Cor- 
ix, 13). 

ALPHA AND OMEGA.— The first 
and last letters of the Greek Alpha- 
bet; hence denoting the beginning and 
end. 

ALTAR. — Place of sacrifice ; an 
altar for Mass must be of stone, duly 
consecrated, and contains relics of 
martyrs : portable altar-stones are 
also used. 

ALTAR BREADS. — Unleavened 
wheaten bread in the form of wafers, 
specially prepared for consecration in 
the Mass. 

ALTAR CARDS.— Three cards 
placed on the altar at Mass containing 
the prayers to be said by the priest 
when the use of the missal is not con- 
venient. 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 641 



AMBROSIAN RITE. — The ancient 

Hturg'y still in use at Milan. 

AMEN. — A Hebrew word express- 
ing assent to the declaration or prayer 
which it follows. 

AMICE. — A rectangular piece of 
linen which the priest wears on his 
shoulders at Mass after placing it 
first on his head. It represents divine 
hope, which the Apostle calls the hel- 
met of salvation (I Thess. v, 8). 

ANATHEMA.— A thing accursed. 

ANCHORITE.— One who has re- 
tired from the world; a recluse or 
hermit. 

ANGELIC DOCTOR. — St. Thomas 

Aquinas (1274). 

ANGELS. — Pure spirits without 
bodies, created by God before man; 
they form a hierarchy of nine choirs, 
viz., Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, 
Dominations, Virtues, Powers, Princi- 
palities, Archangels, Angels (the 
word Angel is derived from the Greek 
term for messenger.) 

ANGELUS. — A devotion in mem- 
ory of the Incarnation practiced morn- 
ing, noon and night, the signal being 
given by a bell ; also called the Ave 
Maria. 

ANNIVERSARY.— The annual re- 
membrance of the dead for which a 
special Mass and prayers are provided 

in the liturgy. 

ANNUNCIATION.— W hen the 
Archangel Gabriel saluted Mary as 
full of grace and made known to her 



the incarnation of God the Son 
(Luke i). Feast March 25th. 

ANTICHRIST.— The great enemy 
of Christ and persecutor of the 
Church, who is to come before the end 
of the world (II Thess. ii, 3-8). 

ANTIPHON. — An anthem which is 
sung or said before and after each 
psalm in the Divine Office; also four 
in honor of Blessed Virgin Mary, 
varying with the seasons occur at the 
end of compline. 

ANTIPOPES.— Men who claimed 
the title of Pope without having been 
duly elected. 

APOCRYPHA.— T hose books 
claiming an origin that might entitle 
them to a place in the Canon, or one 
supposed to be Scripture, but finally 
rejected by the Church. 

APOSTASY.— The renunciation of 
the Catholic faith by one who has pos- 
sessed it. 

APOSTLE.— From the Greek, sig- 
nifying envoy. Besides the Apostles 
of Christ named in the Gospels and 
Acts various Saints are styled apos- 
tles of particular places or people ; e. 
g., St. Augustine of England, St. Pat- 
rick of Ireland St. Peter Claver of the 
negroes, etc. 

APOSTOLIC— A mark of the 
Church, because she holds the doc- 
trines and traditions of the Apostles, 
and because, through the unbroken 
succession of her pastors, she derives 
her orders and her mission from them. 

ARCHBISHOP.— The chief of the 
Bishops of his province. 



642 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



ARCHMANDRITE. — A Greek title 
aften used as synonymous with abbot, 
but more properly the head over a 
number of monasteries, whereas an 
abbot presides over one. 

ARIANS. — Heretics in the fourth 
and later centuries, who denied the 
Divinity of Christ. 

ASCENSION DAY.— A movable 
feast forty days after Easter, cele- 
brating the Ascension of Christ from 
the mount of Olives in sight of His 
holy Mother and disciples. 

ASH WEDNESDAY.— T h e first 
day of Lent when ashes are blessed, 
and placed upon the heads of each of 
the people with the words, "Remem- 
ber, man, that thou art dust, and unto 
dust thou shalt return." 

ASPERGES.— T h e ceremony of 
sprinkling the people with holy water 
before High Mass on Sunday; the 
name being taken from the first word 
of the verse (Ps. i, 9), with which the 
rite begins. 

ASPERSORY. — Instrument for 
sprinkling holy water. 

ASSUMPTION B. V. M.— The tak- 
ing up of Our Lady, after her death 
and burial into heaven, attended by 
Angels. (Feast, August 15th.) 

ASSUMPTION, SISTERS OP THE. 

— Founded by Msgr. Affre, Archbishop 
of Paris, in 1839, chiefly as an educa- 
tional order. 

ATHEIST.— One who does not be- 
lieve in God. 



ATTRIBUTES, DD7INE. — A theo- 
logical term for the perfections of 
God ; e. g., infinity, omnipotence, 
goodness. 

ATTRITION.— Sorrow for sin, pro- 
ceeding from the fear of God. 

AUGUSTINIANS.— An order (orig- 
inally of hermits) following the rule 
of St. Augustine. The present consti- 
tutions were compiled in 1278. 

AUREOLE. — A special accidental 
reward, bestowed in heaven upon 
martyrs, virgins and doctors; (less 
accurately) the nimbus or halo repre- 
sented in art around the head of a 
Saint. 

AURORA. — The dawn preceding 
sunrise, before which Mass may not 
be celebrated ; its length is approxi- 
mately estimated and varies with dif- 
ferent seasons of the year. There is 
a special Mass for the aurora on 
Christmas Day. 

AUTHENTICATION OF A RELIC. 
— A written testimony as to genuine- 
ness given by the Bishop or other 
competent authority when he seals up 
the reliquary. 

AVE MARIA.— The chief prayer to 
the Blessed Virgin which the Church 
uses, the first part consisting of the 
inspired words of the Angel Gabriel 
and St. Elizabeth (Luke i) ; the sec- 
ond part added by the Church, under 
the guidance of the same Holy Spirit. 
This prayer is said so frequently to 
recall to our minds the Incarnation of 
God the Son, and to Honor His Blessed 
Mother. 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 



643 



BANNS. — Publication in church of 
the names of persons wishing to be 
married, in order to discover if any 
impediment exists. 

BAPTISM. — A Sacrament which 
cleanses us from original sin (and from 
actual sin in case of adults) ; it also 
makes us Christians, children of God 
and members of the Church. It is 
necessary for salvation (St. John iii, 
5). The ordinary minister is a priest, 
but any lay person may baptize in case 
of necessity. 

BAPTISM, FORM OF.— The words, 
"I baptize thee in the name of the 
Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost," which must be said at 
the same time that water is poured on 
the head of the subject. 

BAPTISMAL VOWS. — The prom- 
ises in baptism to renounce the devil 
and all his works and pomps. 

BAPTISTRY. — A portion of the 
church, generally near the door, set 
apart and railed off to contain the font. 

BARNABITES.— Regular clerks of 
the Congregation of St. Paul, founded 
in the sixteenth century by St. An- 
thony Zaccaria, so called from a church 
of St. Barnabas at Milan, which be- 
longed to them. 

BASILIANS. — An order of monks 
dating back to St. Basil (379). 

BASILICA. — One of the principal 
churches of the highest dignity; other 
classes are: cathedral, collegiate, bap- 
tismal, parochial, mother (matrices), 
or filial churches. 



BEADS. — A method of counting 
each Pater (large bead) and Ave 
(small bead), or other prayers in Rosa- 
ries and chaplets. See Blessing. 

BEATIFICATION.— T here are 
two kinds: 1. Formal, in which, the 
virtues and miracles of the servant of 
God being proved, the Sovereign Pon- 
tiff allows him to be called by the title 
of "beatus," and grants Mass and of- 
fice in his honor (this is not always 
done in the decree), though generally 
with some local restriction. 2."Acqui- 
pollent, ' ' that is, when the Pope allows 
the ancient fame of a servant of God, 
and confirms the local sentence of the 
ordinary or delegate approving the 
cultus paid to him. The latter was 
done in the case of the English mar- 
tyrs in 1886. 

BEATITUDE.— That perfect good 
which completely satisfies all desire. 
Man has been raised to a supernatural 
state, and his eternal beatitude con- 
sists in God seen face to face. 

BEATITUDES, EIGHT. — The 
blessings pronounced by our Lord at 
the beginning of the Sermon on the 
Mount. 

BELLS, CHURCH.— These have to 
be solemnly blessed by the Bishop, being 
anointed outside with holy oil of the 
sick, and with chrism inside ; they are 
used to summon the faithful and ex- 
cite their devotion, to drive away 
storms and evil spirits. They are or- 
dered to be rung morning, noon and 
evening for the devotion of the An- 
gelus or Ave Maria, and on Friday 
afternoon for the commemoration of 



644 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Our Lord's Passion. They are also 
rung at night as a signal for the de 
profundis to be said for the Holy 
Souls in Purgatory. 

BENEDICTINES. — The first and 
chief monastic order in the West ; 
founded by the patriarch of monks, 
St. Benedict, at Subiaco, and removed 
to Monte Cassino in 529. They re- 
cite the Divine Office at the canoni- 
cal hours, and are at other times em- 
ployed in study, teaching or manual 
labor. It has been the fruitful par- 
ent of innumerable Saints ; and it is 
to this order that the conversion of 
England by St. Augustine was owing. 
The same order for nuns was founded 
by St. Scholastica, sister of St. Bene- 
dict. 

BENEDICTION, RITE OF.— After 
the Blessed Sacrament has been ex- 
posed for adoration, the monstrance 
or pyx containing It is raised in the 
form of a cross to bless the people. 

BENEFICE. — A right of receiving 
the profits of Church property, on ac- 
count of the discharge of a spiritual 
office. 

BERRETTA.— A black cap worn 
by a priest. Cardinals have red, bish- 
ops purple ones. 

BIBLE. — The ordinary name, since 
St. Chrysostom, for the collection of 
the Books of the Old and New Testa- 
ment. See Inspiration, Scripture. 

BILO CATION.— The personal pres- 
ence of the same individual in more 
than one place at the same time ; this 
is recorded of many saints; e. g., St. 



Philip Neri and St. Catherine of Ricci 
visited each other without leaving 
their respective homes at Rome and 
Prato. 

BISHOP IN PARTIBUS INFI- 
DELIUM. — A Bishop consecrated to a 
see formerly existing, but now in a 
non-Christian country. He is also 
called a "Titular Bishop." Auxiliary 
Bishops and Vicars Apostolic generally 
have this rank. 

BLACKFRIARS. — The old name ia 
England for Dominicans. 

BLASPHEMY.— A n y word or 
speech insulting to God. 

BLESSINGS. — 1. Which set apart 
a person or thing for the service of 
God. 2. Which invoke the blessings 
of God on persons or things. Numer- 
ous forms of blessings are authorized 
for different objects; e. g., different 
classes of persons, food, houses, fields, 
ships, railways, telegraphs, etc. A 
simple blessing is given by the sign of 
the cross. Rosaries, crucifixes and 
medals must be blessed by those hay- 
ing faculties for the purpose, befora 
the owner can gain the indulgences 
attached to their possession or use. 

BOAT. — A small vessel in that 
shape, containing the incense to be 
burned in the thurible- 

BOLLANDISTS. — A name given to 
the Jesuit editors of the Acta Sano- 
torum, which is the largest collection 
of Lives of Saints. 

BREVIARY.— The book containing 
the Divine Office recited by the clergy. 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 



645 



BRIDGETTINE S.— An order 
founded by St. Bridget of Sweden, in 
the fourteenth century, of nuns chief- 
ly, but monks also. The monastery of 
Syon, near Brentford, belonged to 
them before Henry VIII ; and this 
community, having taken refuge at 
Lisbon, has always survived, and lately 
returned to England. 

BRIEF. — A form of Pontifical let- 
ter, signed by the secretary of briefs, 
and sealed with the Ring of the Fish- 
erman. 

BULL. — The more formal and sol- 
emn kind of Papal letter ; it com- 
mences "(Pius) episeopus, servus 
servorum Dei," and has a leaden seal 
(bulla) attached to it. 

BURSE. — A square case for the cor- 
poral of the ecclesiastical color of the 
day. 

CALVARY.— 1. The mount where 
Christ was crucified ; 2. A complete 
representation of the Crucifixion, with 
figures of our Lady and St. John and 
the two thieves. 

CALVINISTS. — Besides adopting 
other Protestant doctrines, Calvin 
taught absolute predestination and 
reprobation to heaven or hell, apart 
from any merit or demerit on the part 
of man. 

CAMALDOLESE.— An austere re- 
ligious order founded by St. Romauld 
in 1012, at Camaldoli, among the Ap- 
pennines, thirty miles east of Florence. 

CAMERA APOSTOLICA.— The de- 
partment of the Roman court charged 



with the administration of the Pon- 
tifical exchequer, presided over by the 
the Cardinal Camerlengo (treasurer or 
chamberlain). 

CAMERIERE SEGRETO. — The 
title of chamberlains of the Camera 
Segreta, or private apartments of the 
Pope's residence. 

CANDLEMAS.— Feast of the Puri- 
fication of B. V. M. (February 2nd), 
when candles are blessed and distri- 
buted to the faithful, to be lighted dur- 
ing the procession and at Mass, and af- 
terwards at the bedside of the dying. 

CANDLES.— Used on every altar 
with a spiritual significance. Two are 
necessary at Low Mass, six at High 
Mass, and twelve at Benediction, if the 
Blessed Sacrament is exposed. 

CANON.- — A member of a cathedral 
or other collegiate chapel, formerly liv- 
ing according to a rule, the word for 
which in Greek is canon. 

CANON LAW.— The rules or laws 
relating to faith, morals, and disci- 
pline, prescribed or proposed to Chris- 
tians by ecclesiastical authority. 

CANON OF SCRIPTURE.— List of 
inspired books accepted on the author- 
ity of the Church ; the name canon may 
have been given because they were a 
rule for the faith ; or because these 
books were admitted by the rule of 
the Church. 

CANON OF THE MASS. — The 
part of the Mass from the Sanctus to 
the Communion ; or, more strictly 
speaking, to the Pater Noster. 



646 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



CANONS REGULAR.— There are 
four Orders : Lateran of the Most Holy 
Savior, Premonstratensian, of the Holy 
Cross, of the Immaculate Conception. 

CANONICAL HOURS.— The dif- 
ferent parts of the Divine Office which 
follow and are named after the hours 
of the day. 

CANONIZATION.— The public tes- 
timony of the Church to the sanctity 
and glory of one of the faithful de- 
parted. This testimony is issued in the 
form of a judgment, decreeing to the 
person in question the honors due to 
those who are reigning with God in 
Heaven. By this decree he is inscribed 
in the catalogue of the Saints, and 
invoked in public prayers; churches 
are dedicated to God in memory of 
him, and his feasts kept, and public 
honors are paid to his relics. This 
judgment of the Church is infallible. 

CANTOR. — A singer; formerly the 
official in a collegiate or cathedral 
church who instructed the choristers 
and directed the chanting. This office 
has sometimes a valuable prebend at- 
tached to it. 

CAPITAL SINS.— So called be- 
cause they are the sources from which 
all other sins proceed. There are 
seven : Pride, Covetousness, Lust, 
Anger, Gluttony, Envy, Sloth. 

CAPPA MAGNA.— A long garment 
with a train, worn by Bishops and 
Cardinals. The hood is lined with 
silk or fur, according to the season. 

CAPUCHINS.— A branch of the 
Franciscan order, dating from 1528. 



CARDINAL. — A name first given 
(in the fourth century) to the priests 
having charge of the Roman parish 
churches or "titles," and now to the 
immediate counsellors and assistants of 
the Sovereign Pontiff, whose election 
rests with them. The college of Car- 
dinals consists of six bishops, fifty 
priests, and fourteen deacons ; but the 
number is seldom complete. 

CARMELITES.— A religious order 
said to have been founded by Berthold, 
a crusader, who was a hermit in Cala- 
bria. After seeing Elias in vision he 
retired to Mount Carmel, where he 
was joined by other hermits living 
there, who claimed their descent in 
uninterrupted succession from that 
prophet. They were given a rule in 
1209 by Albert, Patriarch of Jeru- 
salem. On crossing over to Europe 
they renounced the eremitical life, and 
this and other mitigations of the rule 
were sanctioned in 1247 by Innocent 
IV, who confirmed them under the 
title of Friars of our Lady of Mount 
Carmel. There are also nuns of the 
same Order. 

CARMELITES, DISCALCED. — 
An austere reform of the Carmelite 
Order both for men and women, the 
work of St. Teresa and St. John of 
the Cross, aided by St. Peter of Al- 
cantara. They are barefooted. 

.CARNIVAL.— From carnem levare, 
remove meat — the three days before 
Lent (or sometimes longer), a special 
season for feasting and mirth in Cath- 
olic countries. As this easily degener- 
ates into riot, the Church encourages 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 647 



pious exercises at this time and Ex- 
position of the Blessed Sacrament is 
nsual. 

CARTHUSIAN S— An order 
founded in 1086 by St. Bruno in a 
desert valley of the Alps four thou- 
sand feet above the sea, near Grenoble, 
called the Chartreuse, whence the 
name, corrupted in England into Char- 
ter-house. This is the only ancient 
order which has never needed reform 
The monks live entirely apart from 
one another, meeting daily to say ves- 
pers and matins together. 

CASSOCK.— The long black gar- 
ment which is the ordinary dress of 
priests and clerics. 

CATACOMBS.— Underground pas- 
sages and chambers, especially those 
in the neighborhood of Rome, used by 
the early Christians for concealment 
and also for worship and burial. The 
bodies of the early martyrs, now hon- 
ored in the Roman churches, rested 
there for a time. In more recent times 
those bodies, with or without names, 
which are found with the proofs of 
martyrdom are distributed for venera- 
tion in different churches throughout 
the world. 

CATAFALQUE.— An erection like 
a bier, which is placed in front of the 
altar at a Requiem when the body is 
not present. 

CATECHUMEN. — A person not 
baptized, but under preparation for 
baptism. 

CATHEDRAL.— The church in 
which the Bishop of a diocese has his 



chair (cathedra) or throne, and per- 
forms the chief pontifical functions of 
the year. 

CATHEDRATICUM. — An annual 
tax from the churches and beneficed 
clergy of the diocese, exacted by the 
bishop, and paid at the synod. 

CATHOLIC OR UNIVERSAL.— 
A mark of the Church, because she 
subsists in all ages, teaches all nations, 
and is the one Ark of Salvation for 
all. 

CELEBRANT.— T h e priest who 
celebrates Mass. 

CEMETERY. — "Sleeping-place" 
or church-yard; ground set apart and 
consecrated by the Bishop to receive 
the bodies of Christians. The burial 
of excommunicated persons in a Cath- 
olic cemetery is unlawful. Should an 
interment have been violently effected, 
the remains of the excommunicated 
person should be exhumed if dis- 
tinguishable; if not, the cemetery 
should be reconciled by the aspersion 
of holy water solemnly blessed, as at 
the dedication of a church. 

CENSURE.— A spiritual penalty 
imposed for the correction and amend- 
ment of offenders, by which a baptized 
person, who has committed a crime and 
is contumacious, is deprived by ec- 
clesiastical authority of certain spir- 
itual advantages. 

CHALICE. — A vessel of precious 
metal in the form of a cup, specially 
consecrated to contain the Precious 
Blood at Mass. 



648 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



CHAINS OF ST. PETER. — Two 
were preserved, one with which the 
Apostle was bound at Jerusalem, the 
other at Rome; when the former was 
brought to Rome by the Empress Eu- 
doxia, about 439, and placed near the 
Roman one, the two joined miraculous- 
ly. They are still venerated in the 
church of St. Peter ad vincula (Feast, 
August 1.) 

CHANT, PLAIN.— A solemn style 
of diatonic, unisonous music, without 
stricrly measured time, which is be- 
lieved to have been sung in the Chris- 
tian Church since its first foundation. 

CHANTRY.— A chapel set apart for 
the offering of Masses for a particular 
soul or intention. 

CHAPLET.— A general term for 
the Rosary and other devotions which 
are said on beads. 

CHAPTER.— The body of canons of 
a cathedral or other collegiate church ; 
an assembly of monks or other reli- 
gious. 

CHARACTER.— A mark of seal on 
the soul which canot be effaced. It is 
given by the Sacraments of Baptism, 
Confirmation, and Holy Order, and 
therefore, these Sacraments cannot be 
repeated. 

CHARITY, SISTERS OF.— An ac- 
tive order of women founded by St. 
Vincent de Paul and the Ven. Louise 
de Marillac (Mile. Le Gras) in 1634-5. 

CHARITY OF ST. PAUL, SIS- 
TERS OF. — A congregation founded 
in France in 1704, and introduced into 
England in 1847. 



CHASUBLE.— The outer and chief 
vestment worn by the priest at Mass, 
with a cross upon it. 

CHILDHOOD, SOCIETY OF THE 
HOLY. — For the redemption of pagan 
children ; founded by Msgr. de Forbin- 
Janson and Mile. Jaricot in 1842. 
Members, who must be under twenty- 
one, give one halfpenny per month, 
and these alms support numerous 
orphanages in the far East, and rescue 
abandoned Chinese babies. 

CHOIR. — From the Latin chorus, 
the singers at the Divine offices ; from 
their usual place, the space between 
the altar and the nave came to be 
called the choir. 

CHRIST. —Word meaning 
"anointed," a name of our Lord. 

CHRISTIAN.— A follower of Christ. 

CHRISTIAN BROTHERS.— 
Brothers of the Christian Schools, a 
congregation of laymen founded for 
the education of the poor by Saint 
John Baptist de la Salle in 1684. The 
Irish Christian Brothers are a separate 
body of similar lines. 

CHRISTMAS.— The Feast of our 
Lord's Nativity and the season accom- 
panying it. On this feast alone Mass 
is said at midnight, and every priest 
is allowed to celebrate three masses. 

CHURCH, CATHOLIC— The un- 
ion of all the faithful under one head, 
Jesus Christ. 

CHURCH MILITANT.— The faith- 
ful on earth still in a state of warfare ; 
distinguished from the Church 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 649 



triumphant in heaven, or suffering in 
purgatory. 

CHURCHING. — T h e blessing of 
women after child-birth. 

CIBORIUM. — A canopy resting on 
columns above the altar ; term also used 
for the tabernacle and for the pyx in 
which the Blessed Sacrament is kept. 

CIVIL LAW. — The law of Rome, 
owing its form chiefly to the Emperor 
Justinian ; this prevails in most coun- 
tries, and is recognized by the Church 
as deciding cases for which her own 
Canon law does not specifically pro- 
vide. Sometimes this term is used less 
accurately of any law proceeding from 
secular as distinguished from ecclesi- 
astical authority. 

CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE. — 

One without the presence of the parish 
priest and two witnesses. The Coun- 
cil of Trent decreed such a marriage 
to be not only unlawful, as before, 
but also invalid ; but this decree is not 
yet promulgated in England, though 
binding in most other countries. Mar- 
riages are also called clandestine, when 
the publication of banns is unlawfully 
omitted ; but this does not render them 
invalid. 

CLOISTER. — A covered passage, 
asually around a quadrangle, in a con- 
vent or monastery ; hence also a gen- 
eral term for religious houses and life. 

CLOTHING.— Investing a postu- 
lant with the religious habit on enter- 
ing the novitiate- 

COADJUTOR BISHOP.— One ap- 
pointed to help another in diocesan 



work, sometimes with the right of suc- 
cession. 

COAT OF TREVES, HOLY— The 
seamless garment worn by Christ, and 
said to have been woven by our Lady, 
for which the soldiers cast lots at the 
Crucifixion. It was brought to Tre- 
vas by St. Helena in the fourth cen- 
tury. 

CODEX. — An ancient MS., especial- 
ly of the Holy Scriptures ; the most 
celebrated of these are the Vatican at 
Rome, the Alexandrine in the British 
Museum, and the Sinaitic at St. Peters- 
burg. 

COLETTINES. — A reform of the 
Order of Poor Clares in 1436 by St. 
Colette, who brought back many con- 
vents in France and Flanders to the 
strict rule given by St. Francis to St. 
Clare. Most of the convents of Poor 
Clares in England follow this rule. 

COLLEGE, SACRED.— The whole 
body of Cardinals. 

COLORS, ECCLESIASTICAL. — 
"White on feasts of our Lord and our 
Lady, and Saincs not martyrs ; red on 
Pentecost and feasts of Apostles and 
martyrs ; violet in Lent, Advent and 
other penitential times; green on a 
Sunday or feria throughout the rest 
of the year; black in Masses for the 
dead and on Good Friday. 

COLORS, PAPAL.— At one time 
yellow and red, but Napoleon I, having 
adopted these colors for his troops in 
Italy, Pius VII, in 1808, chose white 
and yellow, and these have since been 
retained. 



650 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



COMMANDMENTS, D I V I S I ON 
OF THE TEN. — The Church follows 
that of St. Augustine, who places three 
relating to God in the first table, and 
in the second table seven relating to 
our neighbor. 

COMMANDMENTS OF THE 
CHURCH. — The chief ones are:— 1. 
To keep the Sundays and holy days 
of obligation holy, by hearing Mass 
and resting from servile works. 2. To 
keep the days of fasting and abstinence 
appointed by the Church. 3. To go to 
confession at least once a year. 4. To 
receive the Blessed Sacrament at least 
once a year, and that at Easter or 
thereabouts. 5. To contribute to the 
support of our pastors. 6. Not to 
marry within certain degrees of kin- 
dred, nor to solemnize marriage at the 
forbidden times. 

COMMEMORATION.— When two 
offices of greater and less rank occur on 
the same day, commemoration is made 
of the lesser in the Office and Mass. 

COMMENDATION OF THE 
SOUL. — Prayers recited by the priest 
at the bedside of a dying person. 

COMMUNION OF SAINTS.— All 
the members of the Church, in heaven, 
on earth, and in purgatory, are in com- 
munion with each other, as being one 
body in Jesus Christ. 

COMMUNION, SPIRITUAL.— An 
earnest desire to receive the Blessed 
Sacrament when we have not the means 
to communicate in reality. It may 
well be made at any time, but best 
in time of Mass. 



COMPASSION B. V. M.— Her par- 
ticipation in the Passion of Christ, by 
which she co-operated in the redemp- 
tion of the world. The will of Christ 
and Mary was altogether one and their 
holocaust one; both offered alike to 
God. He in the blood of His flesh, 
she in the blood of her heart. As the 
Passion was the sacrifice which Christ 
made upon the Cross ; so the Compas- 
sion was the sacrifice of Mary beneath 
the Cross, it was her offering to the 
Eternal Father, an offering made by a 
sinless creature for the sins of her 
fellow-creatures. 

COMPOSTELLA, SANTIAGO DE. 
— A city in Galicia, Spain, resorted to 
for many centuries by pilgrims to the 
tomb of St. James (Santiago). It 
ranks with Rome and Jerusalem among 
the chief pilgrimages of the Church. 

CONCLAVE.— The assembly of the 
Cardinals for the election of a new 
Pope. 

CONCORDAT.— A treaty between 
the Holy See and a secular State con- 
cerning the interests of religion. 

CONCUPISCENCE.— The appetite 
which tends to the gratification of the 
senses. 

CONFERENCES, ECCLESIASTI- 
CAL. — Periodical meetings of the cler- 
gy for the discussion of theological 
cases. 

CONFESSION.— To accuse ourselves 
of our sins to a priest; an ordinary 
name for the whole administration of 
the Sacrament of Penance, of which 
this is a part; the altar over the tomb 
of a martyr. 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 651 



CONFESSION, PREPARATION 
FOR. — Four things are necessary: 1. 
We must heartily pray for grace to 
make a good confession. 2. We must 
carefully examine our conscience. 3. 
We must take time and care to make 
a good act of contrition. 4. We must 
resolve by the help of God to renounce 
our sins, and to begin a new life for 
the future. 

CONFESSIONAL.— A place de- 
signed for hearing confessions through 
a grating. 

CONFESSOR.— One who hears con- 
fessions ; one who has suffered perse- 
cution for religion ; a man who is a 
Saint, yet not a martyr. 

CONFIRMATION.— A Sacrament 
by which we receive the Holy Ghost, in 
order to make us strong and perfect 
Christians and soldiers of Jesus 
Christ. The ordinary minister is a 
Bishop. The recipient takes the name 
of a Patron Saint, and requires a spon- 
sor. 

CONFITEOR. — ' ' I confess to Al- 
mighty God, to B. V. Mary, etc.," a 
form of prayer used at the beginning 
of Mass, in the Sacrament of Penance, 
and on other occasions. It came into 
use in its present form in the thir- 
teenth century. 

CONFRATERNITY.— Or brother- 
hood, a society or association instituted 
for the encouragement of devotion, or 
for promoting works of piety, religion, 
and charity, under some rules and reg- 
ulations, though without being tied to 
them so far as that the breach or neg- 
lect of them would be sinful. 



CONGREGATION.— The body of 
people in a church, as distinguished 
from the clergy. (Of priests and reli- 
gious) a community or order bound 
together by a common rule, either with- 
out vows, or without solemn vows. 

CONGREGATIONS, ROMAN. — 
Bodies composed of Cardinals, etc., for 
the transaction, under the superintend- 
ence of the Pope, of the business of the 
Church. Such are the Congregations: 
of the Consistory; of the Holy Office 
of the Inquisition (See Inquisition) ; 
of the Index ; of Rites ; of Bishops and 
Regulars; of Propaganda; of Indul- 
gences, etc. 

CONSANGUINITY. — Blood-rela- 
tionship ; the degree is reckoned ac- 
cording to the number of steps of des- 
cent from the common parent ; e. g., a 
brother and sister are related in the 
first degree, third cousins in the fourth 
degree. Consanguinity as far as the 
forth degree is an impediment to mar- 
riage, which makes it not only unlaw- 
ful but invalid, unless a dispensation 
be obtained. 

CONSCIENCE.— An act of our 
judgment, dictating what we ought to 
do or omit in order to act in conformity 
with the law of God. 

CONSECRATION.— The form of 
words by which bread and wine in the 
Mass are changed into the Body and 
Blood of Christ. 

CONSISTORY.— The assembly of 
Cardinals convoked by the Supreme 
Pontiff. 

CONSUBSTANTIAL. — T h e word 
inserted in the Nicene Creed against 



652 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



the Arian denial of the Divinity of 
Christ. 

CONTEMPLATION. — A higher 
form of mental prayer. 

CONTRITION. — A hearty sorrow 
for our sins because by them we have 
offended God, who is infinitely good in 
Himself and infinitely good to us, to- 
gether with a firm purpose of amend- 
ment. Perfect contrition is that which 
proceeds purely from the love of God. 

CONVENT.— A dwelling of reli- 
gious men and women living in com- 
munity under rule and practicing the 
Evangelical counsels, usually applied 
to those of the mendicant orders as 
different from monks. In England this 
term is generally applied to all reli- 
gious houses of women. 

COPE. — An ample vestment vary- 
ing in color, reaching to the feet, with 
a hood at the back. It is worn in most 
solemn ceremonies, but not at Mass. 

CORONA.— (Crown) ; a third part 
of the Rosary ; synonymous with chap- 
let. 

CORPORAL.— The linen cloth on 
which the body of Christ is placed 
when consecrated. 

CORPUS CHRISTI. — A solemn 
feast, instituted in honor of the Most 
Holy Sacrament, on the Thursday af- 
ter Trinity Sunday. 

COTTA. — A common word (from 
the Italian) for the shorter form of 
surplice with sleeves now in general 
use. 



COUNCIL.— Assemblies of the rul- 
ers of the Church legally convoked for 
the settlement of ecclesiastical affairs. 
They are usually — 1. General, or Ecu- 
menical, presided over by the Pope 
or his representative. 2. Provincial, 
under the Metropolitan. 3. Diocesan, 
more commonly called by the equiva- 
lent name of Synod. 

COWL. — A part of the monastic 
habit. 

CREDENCE.— A table, usually at 
the Epistle side of the altar, on which 
are placed requisites for Mass or other 
ceremonies until required for actual 
use. 

CREED. — A summary of articles of 
Faith. Those in use are : — 1. The 
Apostles' Creed, believed to have been 
composed by the Apostles themselves 
(2 Tim. i, 13). 2. The Aihanasian, 
said at Prime on Sunday. 3. The Ni- 
cene Creed, formulated at the Councils 
of Nice and Constantinople in the 
fourth century and added to later ; this 
is recited at Mass on Sundays and cer- 
tain feasts, and forms the first part 
of — 4. The Creed of Pius IV, drawn 
up after the Council of Trent, now 
in general use whenever a solemn pro- 
fession of faith is required, e. g., on re- 
ception into the Church, etc. 

CROSIER.— The staff carried by the 
Bishop as symbol of the authority by 
which he rules his flock. 

CROSS, SIGN OF THE.— The ex- 
ternal representation of the Cross of 
Christ, which has been the mark of 
Christians since the first ages. It is 
made by touching with the finger of 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 653 



the right hand the forehead, breast, 
left and right shoulder. We make the 
sign of the cross — first, to put us in. 
mind of the Blessed Trinity by the 
words, "In the name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost ; ' ' and secondly, to remind us 
that God the Son died for us on the 
Cross, by the very form of the Cross 
which we make upon ourselves. The 
cross is signed upon the forehead, lips 
and heart when the Gospel is said, to 
show that we must avoid sin in thought, 
word or deed, and profess our Faith 
in these three ways. 

CROSS, TRUE. — The actual Cross 
©n which Christ was crucified, found 
later by St. Helena, the mother of 
Constantine ; many portions of it ex- 
ist, and are venerated as relics with 
special honor. Feast of the Invention 
(or finding) May 3rd; of the Exalta- 
tion, after its recovery from the Per- 
sians by the Emperor Heraclius, Sep- 
tember 14th. 

CRUCIFIX. — The figure of our 
Lord on the Cross or the Cross with the 
figure on it. A representation of the 
erucifix must be above the altar when 
Mass is said. See Blessing. 

CRYPT.— The basement of a church, 
used for worship or interment. 

CULTUS. — A Latin word, equiva- 
lent to worship or reverence. 

CURE OF SOULS.— The responsi- 
bility and care of souls, such as be- 
longs to a parish priest. 

CURIA, ROMAN.— The court of 
the Pope. 



DALMATIC— The upper vestment 
worn by deacons at High Mass. 

DATARLA— The Apostolic tribu- 
nal for the granting of favors by the 
Holy See. 

DAUGHTERS OF THE CROSS.— 
A congregation founded in 1833 at 
Liege in Belgium by Mere M. Therese 
Haze for undertaking all active and 
zealous works, especially schools. 

DEACON.— The second of the Holy 
Orders. His duty is to minister at 
the altar, to baptize and to preach. At 
High Mass he sings the Gospel and as- 
sists the priest. 

DEAD, MASSES FOR THE.— 
Those offered for the souls in purga- 
tory, to make satisfaction to God for 
them, and shorten the time of their 
exile. 

DEAN. — A dignitary in many ca- 
thedral chapters; a rural dean is 
placed over a district of several par- 
ishes. 

DECALOGUE.— The ten command- 
ments. 

DECRETALS, THE.— A collection 
of laws and decisions made by St. Ray- 
mund of Pennafort, at the command 
of Gregory IX, in 1234. 

DEDICATION OF CHURCHES.— 
The act by which a church is solemnly 
set apart for the worship of God, un- 
der a special title or invocation. 

DEIST. — One who admits the exist- 
ence of a Supreme Being, but denies 
all revelation. 



654 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



DESPAIR. — A sin against hope; 
distrust of God's goodness and His 
promises to us. 

DETRACTION. — Injury to our 
neighbor 's character by making known, 
without a sufficient cause, his real but 
secret faults. 

DEVIL. — Lucifer and the other fal- 
len angels who followed that evil spirit 
in his rebellion. 

DEVOTION.— A readiness of will 
to perform whatever appertains to tha 
service of God. External devotions or 
pious exercises are only meritorious so 
far as they proceed from internal de- 
votion. 

DEVOTION, FEASTS OF. — Feasts 
which were once holy days of obliga- 
tion, the precept of hearing Mass and 
resting from work on these days hav- 
ing been annulled by the Holy See, 
and their special observance left to 
the devotion of the faithful. 

DIES IRAE. — The sequence or 
hymn in the Mass for the Dead. 

DIMISSORIAL.— Letters given by 
one Bishop authorizing the ordination 
of his subject by another. 

DIOCESE.— The tract of country 
with its population falling under the 
pastorate of one Bishop. 

DIRGE.— Solemn Office for the 
Dead; so called after the first anti- 
phon, "Dirge." 

DISCALCED.— Barefooted, as Dis- 
calced Carmelites. 

DISCIPLINE.— 1. Laws binding the 
members of the Church in conduct as 



distinct from Faith. 2. An instrument 
of penance in the form of a scourge. 

DISPENSATION— The relaxation 
of the law in a particular case. A 
superior can dispense in his own laws, 
the Pope in the laws of the Church. 
With regard to moral law, based on 
the nature of right and wrong, which 
is like God, eternal, there can be no 
dispensation. 

DIVINATION— Consulting devils 
or the dead, which is inconsistent with 
the supreme prerogatives of God. 

DIVORCE. — A separation between 
man and wife. No human power can 
dissolve the bond of marriage ("What 
God hath joined together let no man 
put asunder," Matt, xix, 6) ; and any 
attempt to do so by a secular court 
is futile and of no effect. The Church, 
however, on sufficient grounds grants 
a divorce from common life, i. e., re- 
lieves one of the parties from the obli- 
gation of living with the other. 

DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH.— 
Title conferred on a Saint eminent for 
learning by the Pope or a General 
Council. The Offices and Mass for 
these have distinctive features. 

DOGMA.— A truth contained in 
Scripture or tradition, and proposed 
by the Church for the belief of the 
faithful. 

DOLOURS, SEVEN.— Seven mys- 
teries of sorrow in Our Lady's life; 
namely, 1. The Prophecy of Simeon; 
2. The Flight into Egypt ; 3. The Three 
Days' Loss; 4. Meeting Jesus carry- 
ing His Cross; 5. Standing beneath 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 



655 



the Cross on Calvary; 6. The taking 
down from the Cross ; 7. The Burial of 
Jesus. There is a Rosary or chaplet, 
and also a scapular of the seven Do- 
lours. 

DOMINICANS.— The Religious Or- 
der of the Friars Preachers founded 
by St. Dominic in the thirteenth cen- 
tury. The nuns of this order are also 
known by this name. The first order 
of St. Dominic is that of men ; the 
second order that of the cloistered 
nuns ; the third order, or Brothers 
and Sisters of Penance of St. Dominic, 
may live in the world, but the sisters 
sometimes live in community, and are 
enclosed, but not strictly. 

DONATISTS.— Schismatics who af- 
terwards became heretics, and held 
that the validity of the Sacraments de- 
pended upon the moral character of 
the minister, and also that sinners 
could not be members of the Church. 
They were first condemned in 313, but 
troubled Africa for many years later. 
They were opposed by St. Optatus and 
St. Augustine. 

DOUAY BIBLE.— The name of the 
English version of the Holy Scriptures 
founded on the Old Testament pub- 
lished at Douay in 1610, and the New 
Testament at Rheims in 1582. 

DOUBLE FEASTS.— The greater 
kind of feasts ; these are divided into 
doubles of the first and second class, 
greater doubles, ordinary doubles, and 
eemi-donbles. On doubles the whole 
antiphon is recited before and after 
each psalm. 



DOVE. — A symbol of the Holy 
Ghost, who appeared under that form 
at the Baptism of Christ. 

DOXOLOGY.— Or Gloria Patri, a 
formula of praise of God of extreme 
antiquity. In English, "Glory be to 
the Father, etc." 

DUEL. — A hostile meeting of two 
or other even number of persons with 
time and place previously arranged; 
all taking part in it incur excommuni- 
cation, and if killed are denied Chris- 
tian burial. 

DULIA. — (From a Greek word for 
service.) The honor and worship given 
to the Saints : that given to the 
Mother of God, being something high- 
er, is called hyperdulia. 

EASTER.— Festival of the Resur- 
rection of Christ. It is celebrated on 
the Sunday following the first full 
moon after the vernal equinox. Its 
date fixes that of the other chief mov- 
able feasts of the year. 

ECSTASY, STATE OF. — Being 
raised by God to supernatural contem- 
plation, so that the senses are sus- 
pended, though the will retains full 
power. 

EJACULATIONS.— Short prayers 

or aspirations, which can, therefore, be 
often repeated, and many of which 
are indulgenced. 

ELEVATION, IN THE MASS. — 
The raising of the host and chalice af- 
ter consecration for adoration by the 
faithful. 

EMBER-DAYS.— The Wednesday, 
Friday and Saturday following the 



656 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



first Sunday in Lent, "Whit Sunday, 
exaltation of the Cross (September 
14th), and the third Sunday of Advent. 
Their observance as times of prayer 
and fasting, received from apostolic 
tradition, was decreed by St. Callis- 
tus (221). The object is, 1. Consecra- 
tion of the four seasons by prayer and 
thanksgiving; 2. Intercession for God's 
blessing on the ordination of the clergy, 
which is held at those times. 

EMINENCE.— The title of a Cardi- 
nal. 

ENCLOSURE. — The rule of the 
Church which separates members of 
a religious house from the world by 
the prohibition or restriction of inter- 
course with those outside the walls. 

ENCYCLICAL.— A circular letter 
addressed by the Pope to other Bishops 
of the Church. 

EPICHEJA. — A benign interpreta- 
tion of a law according to equity, de- 
claring a particular special case not 
to be comprehended under the general 
law according to the mind of the law- 
giver. 

EPIPHANY, or Manifestation of 
Christ (Feast January 6th). Three 
events are celebrated : 1. The visit of 
the Magi to Bethlehem. 2. The Bap- 
tism of Christ. 3. The miracle at the 
marriage feast of Cana. 

EPISCOPATE.— 1. The fullness of 
the priesthood (according to some, a 
distinct order), received by a Bishop 
at his consecration. 2. The body of 
Bishops collectively. 



EPISTLE.— The portion of Scrip- 
ture read between the Collect and Gos- 
pel of the Mass. At High Mass it is 
sung by the subdeacon. 

ESPOUSAL.— A formal and bind- 
ing promise of future marriage. 

EUCHARIST, HOLY.— The Sacra- 
ment of the Holy Eucharist is the true 
Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, to- 
gether with His Soul and Divinity un- 
der the appearance (species, or acci- 
dents) of bread and wine. When the 
words of the consecration ordained by 
Jesus Christ are pronounced by the 
priest in the Holy Mass, there is made 
a conversion of the whole substance of 
the bread into the Body, and of the 
whole substance of the wine into the 
Blood ; which conversion the Catholic 
Church calls Transubstantiation. Un- 
der either kind alone Christ is received 
whole and entire and a true Sacra- 
ment. 

EUTYCHIANS.— Otherwise Mono- 
physites ; heretics who held that there 
was but one nature in Christ ; they 
were condemned by the General Coun- 
cil of Chalcedon in 451. 

EVANGELICAL COUNSELS. — 
Voluntary poverty, perpetual chastity, 
and entire obedience. 

EVANGELISTS.— The authors of 
the four gospels ; Saints Matthew, 
Mark, Luke, and John. In art they are 
distinguished by the figures of a man, 
a lion, an ox, and an eagle. 

EX CATHEDRA. — See Infallibil- 
ity. 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 



657 



EXCOMMUNICATION. — An ec- 
clesiastical censure, by which any one 
is deprived of the communion of the 
Church. Formal sentence is ordinarily 
required; but in certain cases it is in- 
curred at once by the commission of a 
forbidden act (ipso facto.) 

EXERCISES, SPIRITUAL. — A 
series of meditations on the truths of 
religion, usually made during a period 
of retreat. 

EXORCISM— Prayers and cere- 
monies used by the Church to expel 
evil spirits. 

EXPOSITION. — A devotion in 
which the Blessed Sacrament is adored 
publicly and solemnly; our Lord, as 
it were, sits on His throne to receive 
public homage and to give audience to 
all who come. 

EXTREME UNCTION, SACRA- 
MENT OP.— The anointing of the 
sick with holy oil, accompanied with 
prayer (St. James v, 14, 15). It is 
given to the sick when in danger of 
death. Its effects are to comfort and 
strengthen the soul, to remit sin, and 
even to restore health when God sees 
it to be expedient. 

EX VOTO. — Offerings made in re- 
turn for the accomplishment of a de- 
sire; they generally consist of little 
objects in silver or small pictures. 

FACULTIES. — The approbation 
and authorization given to a priest, 
enabling him to hear confessions or ex- 
ercise other functions requiring juris- 
diction. 



FAITH. — A supernatural gift of 
God, which enables us to believe with- 
out doubting whatever God has re- 
vealed ; we believe it because God is the 
very truth, and cannot deceive or be 
deceived. We know what God has re- 
vealed by the testimony and authority 
of the Catholic Church. 

FAITHFUL COMPANIONS OF 
JESUS. — A society or congregation 
founded at Amiens in 1820, under the 
direction of Pere Varin, S. J., for the 
sanctihcation of souls and the reform 
of female education. 

FAITHFUL VIRGIN, RELIGI- 
OUS OF. — Founded about sixty years 
ago mainly for the care of orphans. 
The motherhouse is at La Delivrande 
in Normandy. 

FALDSTOOL.— The seat used in 
functions by Bishops or prelates who 
are not entitled to, or are not using a 
throne ; also used for kneeling. 

FAN. — When the Pope is carried in 
solemn processions magnificent fans 
(flabelli) of peacock and ostrich feath- 
ers are borne on each side. 

FASTING DAYS.— On which we 
are allowed to take but one meal, and 
are forbidden to eat flesh without spe- 
cial leave. They are the forty days 
of Lent, certain vigils, the Emberdays, 
and in England the Wednesdays and 
Fridays in Advent. 

FATHER.— A title given in early 
times to all Bishops, and in later times 
to all priests in religious orders or 
congregations; secular priests some- 
times receive this title, but not general- 
ly in Catholic countries. 



658 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



FATHERS OF THE CHURCH. — 
The most eminent Christian writers 
and teachers of the first twelve cen- 
turies. 

FEAR. — Trepidation of the mind 
because of present or future danger ; 
grave fear from without is an impedi- 
ment to marriage, rendering it in- 
valid. 

FILIOQUE.— "And from the Son;" 
words inserted in the Nicene Creed as 
a profession of faith against the heresy 
of the Greeks regarding the Procession 
of the Holy Ghost. 

FIRE, BLESSING OF NEW. — The 
beginning of the ceremonies on Holy 
Saturday; when fire, newly kindled 
from flint and steel, is blessed, that 
from it the Paschal candle and lamps 
in church may be lighted. 

FISHERMAN'S RING.— A signet 
engraved with the effigy of St. Peter 
in the act of fishing, and with the 
name of the reigning Pope. Apostolic 
briefs are sealed with it, and it is 
broken at the Pope's death. 

FLAMINIAN GATE.— The gate of 
Rome by which the Flaminian Way 
issues northward from the city. From 
outside this gate the Pastoral of Cardi- 
nal Wiseman was dated on the oc- 
casion of the English Hierarchy being 
reconstituted in 1850. 

FORBIDDEN TIMES (OF MAR- 
RIAGE). — It is forbidden to solemnize 
marriage from Ash-Wednesday to Low 
Sunday, and from the First Sunday of 
Advent to the Epiphany, inclusive. 
Solemnizing marriage means receiving 



the nuptial Benediction, and celebrat- 
ing public festivities. 

FORTY HOURS, DEVOTION OF. 
— Solemn Exposition of the Blessed 
Sacrament for two days and nights, 
with special prayers and processions. 

FORUM. — Originally market-place, 
in later times tribunal; the privilege 
of the forum is the right of clerics not 
to be subject to secular tribunals. The 
tribunal of conscience established in 
the Sacrament of Penance is spoken of 
as the internal forum; the external 
forum including every exercise of ec- 
clesiastical jurisdiction external to 
that. 

FRANCISCANS. — Friars Minor, 

the order founded by St. Francis of 
Assisi (died 1226), practicing the 
strictest poverty and great austerity of 
life. After his death it became divided 
into two great branches, Conventuals 
and Observan tines ; the Capuchins date 
from a later period, as also the Recol- 
lects and Alcantarines. The second 
order (of nuns) are called Poor 
Clares, after the founder, St. Clare, 
who received the rule from St. Francis. 
The third order founded by St. Fran- 
cis is very widely spread, and, with 
certain mitigations and adaptations, 
has been specially recommended by 
Leo XIII as one most suitable to be 
embraced by those in the world desir- 
ing greater perfection. 

FRATERNAL CORRECTION. — 
Reproof administered to our brother 
with a view to his spiritual advantage. 

FRIAR. — From the French frere 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 659 



(brother), the title of members of the 
Mendicant orders. 

FRONTAL. — A cloth covering the 
front of the altar, varying in color with 
the feast or season. 

FRUITS OF THE HOLY GHOST. 
— Charity, Joy, Peace, Patience, Be- 
nignity, Goodness, Longanimity, Mild- 
ness, Faith, Modesty, Contineney, 
Chastity (Gal. v, 22). 

GALLI C AN,-ISM. — A party o r 
opinion which unduly restricted the 
prerogatives of the Holy See in favor 
of local or national churches of France 
or elsewhere. 

GAUDETE SUNDAY. — The third 
of Advent, so named from the first 
word of the Introit (Phil. iv). 

GEHENNA.— A name for hell, from 
the Valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem. 

GENERAL CONFESSION. — A 
confession of the whole life, or includ- 
ing several particular confessions nec- 
essary when previous ones have beer* 
waiting in the required integrity, sor- 
row, or resolution. 

GENERAL OF AN ORDER.— The 
Superior of the whole order, usually 
elected in general chapter for some 
fixed term. 

GENUFLECTION. — Bending of 
the knee. This is always done in pass- 
ing before the tabernacle where the 
Blessed Sacrament is reserved. If the 
Blessed Sacrament is exposed the 
genuflection is made with both knees. 
It is frequently used by the priest in 
the Mass, and by all the faithful at 



the mention of the Incarnation in the 
Creed. 

GIFTS OF THE HOLY GHOST.— 
These are seven. — Wisdom, Under- 
standing, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowl- 
edge, Piety, the Fear of the Lord. 

GIRDLE. — A symbol of chastity, the 
cord with which the priest or cleric 
binds his alb. It should be of linen 
rather than silk, but may also be of 
wool. It is usually white, but may be 
of other colors to match the vestments. 

GLORIA IN EXCELSIS.— "Glory 
be to God on high," said or sung in the 
Mass afcer the Kyrie Eleison. As it is 
a hymn of joy, it is omitted in Masses 
for the dead, and is only said when 
the day or season is festal. 

GLORIA PATRL— See Doxology. 

GLORIFIED BODIES.— The bod- 
ies of Christ and the Saints after the 
Resurrection. They have four special 
gifts, viz.: (1) Impassibility or incapa- 
bility of suffering (Apoc. xxi, 4). (2) 
Brightness (Matt, xiii, 43 ; I Cor. xv, 
41-43) ; (3) Agility, or power of rap- 
id motion; (4) Subtility, becoming 
spiritualized (I Cor. xv, 44). Thus 
Christ passed through the closed doors 
on Easter Day. 

GLORIOUS MYSTERIES OF THE 
ROSARY.— (1) The Resurrection. 
(2) The Ascension. (3) The Descent 
of the Holy Ghost. (4) The Assump- 
tion B. V. M. (5) The Coronation of 
B. V. M. and the glory of all the 
Saints. 

GOD. — The Supreme Spirit, who 
alone exists of Himself, and is infinite 
in all perfections. 



660 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



GOD'S ACRE. — An old English 

name for churchyard. 

GOLDEN ROSE.— An ornament 
blessed by the Pope every year on 
Laetare Sunday, and sent to Catholic 
sovereigns or others of distinction. 

GOOD FRIDAY. — The day on 
which the Church commemorates the 
Passion of Christ. The clergy wear 
black vestments and prostrate them- 
selves in silence before the stripped 
altar, the candles being unlighted. 
The Passion, according to St. John, is 
by the adoration of the Cross; after 
then sung in its entirety, following 
which the priest receives a Host con- 
secrated in the Mass of the previous 
day, and brought in procession from 
the sepulchre, as the Church abstains 
from celebrating Mass on this day, on 
which Christ was offered for our sins. 

GOOD SHEPHERD, SISTERS OF 
THE. — A Congregation for the refor- 
mation of fallen women, founded orig- 
inally under the title of Our Lady of 
Charity by Pere Eudes in 1642, placed 
under a generalate and made into a 
separate branch under the title of the 
Good Shepherd by the Ven. Mother 
M. de Ste. Euphrasie Pelletier in 1835. 

GOSPEL, LITURGICAL USE OF. 
— The practice of reading the Gospel 
in Christian assemblies is prescribed 
in all liturgies and is mentioned by St. 
Justin Martyr. At High Mass it is 
sung by the deacon accompanied by 
two acolytes bearing lighted candles to 
signify that Christ is the light of souls. 
The faithful stand to hear the Gospel, 
in token of their alacrity to obey the 



words of Christ, and members of mili- 
tary orders stand with drawn swords, 
for the same reason. 

GRACE. — A supernatural gift of 
God, freely bestowed upon us for our 
sanctification and salvation. We ob- 
tain it chiefly by prayer and the Sac- 
raments. Graces that make pleasing 
(to God) are those which lead direct- 
ly to the sanctification of the recipient ; 
and these, when interior, are either 
habitual (otherwise sanctifying) or ac- 
tual. Gratuitous graces are those 
which are given principally for the 
benefit of others, and the various kinds 
are enumerated in I Cor. xii. 

GRACE AT MEALS.— We pray for 
a blessing on the food we are about to 
eat, and we thank God for it, according 
to the example of Christ, and in obedi- 
ence to the precept of St. Paul. 
"Whether you eat or drink . . . . 
do all to the glory of God." 

GRADUAL PSALMS.— A title giv- 
en to Psalms cxix-cxxxiii. 

GREEK CHURCH.— The so-called 
Orthodox, but in reality schismatic 
Church. It consists of those Chris- 
tians who refuse to admit the suprem- 
acy of the Pope, and acknowledge (or 
have acknowledged) that of the Patri- 
arch of Constantinople. It is, also, 
heretical by asserting the Procession 
of the Holy Ghost from the Father 
alone, not from the Father and the 
Son. 

GREGORIAN MUSIC. — Another 
name for plain chant, from the part 
of which St. Gregory the Great (d. 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 661 



604) took in improving and establish- 
ing it. 

GREMIAL. — A cloth, either of lin- 
en, or corresponding with the vest- 
ments of the day, placed over the knees 
of the Bishop in many ceremonies. 

GREYFRIARS.— A name for some 
Franciscans. 

GUARDIAN.— Head of a Francis- 
can convent. 

GUARDIAN ANGELS. — Angels 
divinely appointed to protect and 
guide each individual soul throughout 
life. (Feast October 2nd.) 

HAGIOGRAPHY. — Sacred writ- 
ings ; lives of Saints. 

HALO. — See Aureole. 

HEART OF MARY, MOST PURE. 
— An object of veneration (with hyper- 
dulia), because united to the person of 
the Blessed Virgin, just as the Sacred 
Heart of Jesus is worshiped with latria 
because united to the Person of the 
Eternal Word ; the physical heart in 
each case being taken as the natural 
symbol of charity and the inner life. 
The feast is kept in some places on the 
fourth Sunday after Pentecost; in 
others, on that after the Octave of the 
Assumption. The Confraternity of the 
Immaculate Heart for the conversion 
of sinners at Notre Dame des Victoires 
at Paris did much to spread this devo- 
tion. 

HEAVEN. — The place where the 
good shall see, love, and enjoy God 
for ever in glory and happiness. 



HELL. — The prison where the fal- 
len angels and lost souls are tormented 
eternally. 

HERESY.— The rejection of one or 
more revealed truths by one who has 
been baptized, and has professed the 
Christian religion. 

HERMIT.— (From the Greek word 
for desert.) One who leads a solitary 
or retired life. 

HIERARCHY.— The organization 
of ranks and orders in the Church. 

HOLINESS.— A mark of the 
Church, because she teaches a holy doc- 
trine, and is distinguished by the emi- 
nent holiness of so many thousands of 
her children. Also a personal title of 
the Supreme Pontiff. 

HOLY CHILD JESUS, SISTERS 
OF. — An institute founded about fifty 
years ago in England for teaching both 
the rich and the poor. 

HOLY GHOST.— The Third Person 
of the Blessed Trinity, who proceeds 
from the Father and the Son, and is 
equal to Them ; for He is the same 
Lord and God as they are. 

HOLY GHOST, SINS AGAINST 
THE. — 1. Presumption; 2. Despair; 3. 
Resisting the known truth; 4. Envy 
of another's spiritual good; 5. Obsti- 
nacy in sin ; 6. Final impenitence. 

HOLY PLACES.— Jerusalem and 
other places sanctified by our Lord's 
presence when on earth. A collection 
in support of the sanctuaries therein 
is made throughout the Church every 
Good Friday. 



662 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



HOLY WATER. — Water mixed 
with a little salt, and blessed by a 
priest. It is used to bless persons and 
things and to drive away evil spirits. 

HOLY WEEK.— The week immedi- 
ately preceding Easter, in which the 
Passion of Christ is commemorated. 
The chief ceremonies are : On Sunday, 
the Blessing of Palms; Tenebrae on 
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday 
evenings; On Holy Thursday, Mass, 
with Gloria and Procession to the Sep- 
ulchre, and the Mandatum, or washing 
the feet; on Good Friday, the Passion 
of St. John, the Adoration of the Cross, 
and Mass of the Presanctified ; and on 
Holy Saturday, the Blessing the Pas- 
chal Candle, Prophecies, Bhssing of 
the Font, and Mass with alleluia. The 
organ and bells are silent from the 
Gloria on Thursday until that on Sat- 
urday. 

HOSANNA.— A Hebrew word tak- 
en from Ps. exvii, 25, meaning "0 
Lord, save, we pray." It was with 
this joyful acclaim that the Jews met 
our Lord as He entered Jerusalem on 
Palm Sunday. Hosanna in excelsis 
(Hosanna in the highest) forms part 
of the Sanctus in the Mass. 

HOSPITALLERS OF ST. JOHN 
OF GOD.— An Order founded by St. 
John of God at Granada in 1540, for 
the aid of the sick and infirm. 

HOST.— 1. The Bread (unleavened) 
which is offered and consecrated at 
Mass ; 2. Christ present under the ap- 
pearance of bread after the consecra- 
tion. 



HYPOSTATIC UNION.— The un- 
ion of Christ's body and soul with the 
person (or hypostasis) of God the Son. 

ICONOCLAST.— A breaker of im- 
ages. The false doctrine that the use 
of images is unlawful in church was 
especially prevalent in the eighth and 
ninth centuries, but is a tenet of many 
heretical sects. 

IDOLATRY.— Setting up anything 
directly in the place of God. 

IGNORANCE.— The lack of due 
knowledge. There may be ignorance 
of the law (juris), e. g., if a man did 
not know that the marriage of third 
cousins was invalid, or as to fact 
(facti), e. g., if a man knowing of the 
impediment married his third cousin, 
not knowing that she was related. In 
either case, ignorance may be vincible, 
such as could and ought to be over- 
come by care and enquiry. It is crass 
if the negligence to enquire is great, 
and affected if a man expressly avoids 
knowing, that he may do wrong more 
freely. Invincible ignorance is that 
which could not be overcome by reason- 
able diligence, such as a prudent per- 
son would use in a matter of moment. 
It is only when in invincible ignorance 
that those who remain outside the 
Church can be saved. 

IMAGES.— Of Christ, the B. V. M., 
and the Saints; the Church teaches 
that they ought to be had and retained, 
and that due honor and veneration is to 
be given to them. 

IMMACULATE CONCEPTION.— 
The privilege of the Blessed Virgin, 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 663 



who, through the merits of her Divine 
Son, was conceived without the least 
guilt or stain of original sin. 

IMMUNITY.— The right to freedom 
from secular interference which the 
Church possesses as to places, persons 
and property. It was in defence of 
this that St. Thomas of Canterbury- 
was martyred. 

IMPEDIMENTS TO MARRIAGE. 
— Circumstances which, from the na- 
ture of the case, or by the law of God, 
or the Church, prevent people being 
married lawfully, or prevent their be- 
ing married at all. Those are called 
impediments which make a marriage 
unlawful, and sinful to contract, and 
those diriment which prevent a mar- 
riage altogether making it null if at- 
tempted, such as consanguinity, affin- 
ity, spiritual relationship, holy orders, 
previous marriage during the life of 
other party (which no civil court of 
divorce can undo), difference of re- 
religion, i. e., with an unbaptized per- 
son, etc. It is to discover if any im- 
pediment exists that banns are pub- 
lished. The Church has power to dis- 
pense in some impediments. 

IMPOSITION OF HANDS. — An 

action denoting from the earliest time 
the conferring of blessing and grace ; 
an essential part of Confirmation and 
Holy Order. 

IMPROPERIA. — Verses expressing 
the reproaches of Christ to the Jewish 
people, which are sung during the 
Adoration of the Cross on Good Fri- 
day. 



INCARNATION.— God the Son tak- 
ing to Himself the nature of man; "the 
Word was made flesh." 

INCENSE. — Used in many cere- 
monies of the Church. It signifies the 
zeal with which the faithful should be 
consumed, the good odor of Christian 
virtue, the ascent of prayer to God. It 
was one of the gifts offered to Christ 
by the Magi. 

INDEX.— A list of books of which 
the reading is prohibited by the Holy 
See. 

INDULGENCE.— A remission 
granted by the Church of the temporal 
punishment which often remains due 
to sin after its guilt has been forgiven. 
By a partial indulgence, part of the 
temporal punishment of sin is remitted ; 
by a plenary indulgence, the whole is 
remitted to persons rightly disposed. 

INDULT. — A license granted by the 
Pope authorizing an exception from 
the common law of the Church. The 
Lenten indult is a familiar example. 

INFALLIBILITY, PAPAL.— That 
Lenten Indult is a familiar example, 
the Pope cannot err when he speaks ex 
cathedra, i. e., when, speaking as Shep- 
herd and Teacher of all Christians, he 
defines a doctrine concerning faith 
or morals, to be held by the whole 
Church. 

INFUSED VIRTUES. — Certain 
good dispositions given us, together 
with sanctifying grace at our justifica- 
tion ; thus faith, hope, and charity, 
and moral virtues, are infused or 
poured into our souls at baptism. 



664 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



INFUSION. — Baptism is now gen- 
erally given by infusion, i. e., pouring 
water on the head, not by immersion. 

IN PETTO, CARDINALS. — Those 
appointed by the Pope in consistory, 
their names not being disclosed, but 
kept secret in his breast until a later 
time. 

INQUISITION.— A tribunal for the 
discovery and prevention of heresy, 
instituted by the Holy See in the thir- 
teenth century, and generally adminis- 
tered by the Order of St. Dominic. 
Since Sixtus V, the chief authority is 
vested in a congregation of twelve 
Cardinals, over which the Pope himself 
presides, and whose decisions have an 
especial authority. It is also called the 
Holy Office. The Roman Inquisition 
must not be confounded with the Span- 
ish, which was more secular and politi- 
cal in character. 

INSPIRATION OF SCRIPTURE.— 
A supernatural impulse by which God 
directed the authors of the canonical 
books to write down certain matter 
predetermined by Him. The sacred 
writers are described as inspired be- 
cause God breathed into them, or sug- 
gested the thoughts which they wrote 
down (cf. Job. xxii, 8.) 

INSTITUTE B. V. M. (Dames 
Anglaises), the only religious order 
of purely English origin instituted 
since the Reformation. Founded by 
Mary Ward (formerly a Poor Clare) 
early in the seventeenth century. 

INTENTION.— An actual inten- 
tion is one existing and adverted to 



at the moment ; a virtual intention is 
one which is existing, and really caus- 
ing the action, although not adverted 
to. An habitual intention is a past one 
not retracted, but not morally influenc- 
ing the action, or else simply the facil- 
ity of doing anything, contracted by 
frequent practice, such as may be 
found in those who are asleep or in- 
toxicated. 

INTERDICT.— An ecclesiastical cen- 
sure by which persons are debarred 
from the use of certain Sacraments, 
from all the divine offices, and from 
Christian burial. Interdicts are local 
or personal, or may strike both place 
and persons, e. g., a province and its 
inhabitants. 

INTERNUNCIO.— A Papal envoy to 
a minor court. 

INTERSTICES.— The intervals re- 
quired between the reception of the 
various orders of the Church. 

INTROIT.— Meaning entrance, a 
word applied to the anthem and psalm 
recited by the priest on ascending the 
altar at the beginning of Mass. 

IRREGULARITY.— An impediment 
disabling those who incur it from re- 
ceiving or exercising the order of the 
Church. 

ITINERARY.— A form of prayer 
given in the breviary to be used when 
setting out on a journey. 

JANSENISM.— A heresy which 
spread in the seventeenth century, re- 
garding the relation of grace to free 
will ; afterwards associated with ex- 
treme rigorism as to spiritual matters, 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 665 



under pretext of restoring the ancient 
dicipline of the Church. 

JESUITS. — Members of the Society 
of Jesus, instituted by St. Ignatius Lo- 
yola in 1534-40. 

JESUS CHRIST. — God the Son 
made man for us. He is truly and was 
always God, having one and the same 
nature with God the Father from all 
eternity ; He is truly man from the 
time of His Incarnadon, having a body 
and soul like ours. Thus there arc 
two natures in Jesus Christ, the nature 
of God and the nature of man; but 
there is only Person, which is the Per- 
son of God the Son. The name of 
Jesus (Feast second Sunday after 
Epiphany) means Savior. 

JOSEPHITES.— A teaching insti- 
tute founded in 1817 in Belgium for 
the education of the commercial and 
industrial classes. 

JOSEPH, SISTERS OP ST.— A 

congregation begun at Autun early in 
the nineteenth century, and confirmed 
in 1854. 

JOYFUL MYSTERIES OF THE 
ROSARY.— 1. The Annunciation; 2. 
The Visitation; 3. The Nativity f 4. The 
Presentation ; 5. The Finding in the 
Temple. 

JOYS OF MARY.— 1. The Annun- 
ciation : 2. The Visitation ; 3. The Na- 
tivity ; 4. The Epiphany; 5. The Find- 
ing in the Temple; 6. The Resurrec- 
tion ; 7. The Ascension. St. Thomas of 
Canterbury used to recite seven Aves 
daily in honor of them. 



JUBILEE. — A solemn plenary in- 
dulgence with additional privileges; a 
celebration at the twenty-fifth or 
fiftieth year. (cf. Levit. xxv, 10-16.) 

JUDGMENT, PARTICULAR. — 
The judgment of everyone at death, as 
well as at the Last Day; "It is ap- 
pointed unto men once to die, and after 
this the judgment" (Hebr. ix, 27). 

JURISDICTION— Power over the 
mystical Body of Christ, which in- 
cludes a right of governing the faith- 
ful at large and judging the individual 
conscience before God. Besides the 
power of order which Christ gave His 
Apostles — that is, besides making them 
Bishops and priests, by giving them 
power to offer sacrifice and forgive sins 
— He gave them what is called a mis- 
sion or jurisdiction (St. John xx, 21; 
Rom. x, 14, 15). This jurisdiction 
they did not transmit ; Bishops now re- 
ceive their jurisdiction through the 
Bishop of Rome, successor of St. Peter. 
A confessor must have jurisdiction giv- 
en to him before he can act validly; 
absolution given by a priest without 
jurisdiction is void, except at the hour 
of death. 

JUSTICE. — A cardinal virtue; con- 
sisting in a constant and enduring will 
to give to each one what is due to him. 
The word is sometimes used in Scrip- 
ture for uprightness in general. 

JUSTIFICATION.— Not only the 
remission of sin, but the sanctifying 
and renewing of the interior man by 
the voluntary reception of grace and 
gifts, whence a man, from being un- 
just and an enemy, becomes just and 



666 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



a friend of God, that he may be heir 
according to the hope of life everlast- 
ing. (Tit. iii, 7.) 

KEYS, POWER OP THE.— The 
power of binding and loosing given 
by Christ to St. Peter (Matt, xvi, 18, 
19), and through him and his succes- 
sors to the Bishops and priests of the 
Church. 

KYRIE ELEISON.— Lord ha-e 
mercy upon us ; the original Greek, 
which is still retained in the prayers 
of the Church. 

LACTICINIA.— Pood made with 
milk or other cognate substances, for 
the use of which leave is given on cer- 
tain fasting days. 

LAETARE SUNDAY.— The fourth 
of Lent, named from the first word 
of the Introit (Is. lxvi). 

LAMPS.— Not only used for light, 
but burned as a mark of honor before 
the altar or a statue or picture, and 
of obligation before the Blessed Sac- 
rament. They must contain oil of 
olives. 

LANGUAGE OP THE CHURCH. 
— Mass is not said in any language still 
spoken. Latin, Coptic, Ethiopic are 
dead languages ; the Greek, Syriac, Ar- 
menian, and Slavonic, used in the li- 
turgy, are different from the modern 
tongues of the same name. 

LAST BLESSING— The plenary 
indulgence given by those who have 
apostolic faculty to the faithful at the 
hour of death. 

LATERAN, BASCILICA OP ST. 
JOHN. — The chief or Cathedral 



church of Rome, founded by Constan- 
tine. Over the entrance is the inscrip- 
tion, "The Mother and Head of all the 
Churches of the City and the World." 
Five General Councils have been held 
at the Lateran. 

LATRIA. — (Prom a Greek word 
meaning absolute submission), the 
honor and worship due to God alone. 

LAUDS.— See Office. 

LAURA. — An aggregation of separ- 
ate cells tenanted by the early monks 
of the desert ; an intermediate stage 
between eremitical and monastic life. 

LAVABO.— The washing of the 
priest's hands in the Mass (Ps. xxv, 
1) ; a term also applied to the dish, 
cloth, or place used for washing hands. 

LAY BROTHERS.— Those members 
of a religious community who do not 
receive Holy Orders. 

LAZARISTS.— Another name for 
Vincentians, from the college of St. 
Lazare at Paris. 

LECTION. — Synonymous with les- 
son. 

LECTOR.— One of the minor or- 
ders, conferring the office of reading 
the lessons in church. 

LEGATE. — An ecclesiastical repre- 
senting the Holy See and armed with 
its authority. 

LENT.— The forty days' fast before 
Easter, beginning on Ash-Wednesday. 

LIBERA. — The last responsory in 
solemn Matins for the dead, also said 
or sung at funerals. 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 



667 



LIMBO. — 1. A place of rest where 
the souls of the just who died before 
Christ were detained, because none 
could go up to heaven before our 
Savior. 2. A place where unbaptized 
infants and any others, who die in 
original but not actual sin, spend their 
eternity in natural happiness, but with- 
out the vision of God. 

LITANY.— A form of united prayer 
by alternate sentences. Three forms 
are commonly used in public worship : 
1. The Litany of the Saints ; 2. Litany 
of the Blessed Virgin (otherwise the 
Litany of Loreto) ; 3. The Litany of 
the Holy Name of Jesus. 

LITURGICAL BOOKS.— The chief 
are the Missal, Breviary, Ritual, Pon- 
tifical, Ceremonial of Bishops, and 
Martyrology. The Gradual, Antipho- 
nary and Hymnary contain the neces- 
sary plain chant. 

LITURGY.— The rites in the West- 
ern and Eastern Church for the cele- 
bration of the Holy Eucharist; (more 
generally) all forms of public worship 
approved by the Church. 

LORETO. — A town near Ancona in 
Italy, to which the Holy House of 
Nazareth was transported by the min- 
istry of angels in 1294. 

LOURDES.— A town on the French 
side of the Pyrenees, much frequented 
as a pilgrimage since the apparitions 
of B. V. M. in 1858 to Bernadeite Sou- 
birous in a grotto by the riverside. 

LUTHERANS.— Followers of Luth- 
er, whose most distinctive tenet was 
justification by faith only, without good 



works. The Catholic faith on this point 
was fully defined by the Council of 
Trent. 

MAGNIFICAT.— The canticle of 
the Blessed Virgin Mary (Luke i) said 
or sung at Vespers. 

MALTA, KNIGHTS OF.— A mili- 
tary religious order founded in 1118 
at Jerusalem for the reception and 
care of pilgrims ; called also Hospital- 
ers or Knights of St. John of Jerusa- 
lem. The island of Malta was given 
to them by the Emperor Charles V in 
1530, but was taken from them by 
Bonaparte in 1799. 

MANICHEES.— Heretics named af- 
ter Manes, who, with other false doc- 
trines, adopted the ancient Persian be- 
lief in two supreme beings, one good, 
the other evil, the material world be- 
ing made by the latter. This heresy 
frequently reappeared under different 
forms or names. St. Augustine fol- 
lowed it before his conversion. 

MANIPLE.— One of the vestments 
worn at Mass by the priest and sacred 
ministers; it is placed upon the left 

arm of a subdeacon at his ordination 

MANTELLETTA.— A short cloak 
without sleeves, worn by prelates. A 
longer one called mantellone is worn 
by prelates of an inferior rank. 

MARIST S. — A congregation found- 
ed by Father Colin at Lyons and ap- 
proved by Gregory XVI in 1836 under 
the name of "Society of Mary," spe- 
cially zealous in missionary countries. 
There are Marist sisters who preform 
good works in a similar spirit; also 
Marist brothers employed in teaching. 



668 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



MARONITES. — A number of mon- 
asteries and a Catholic population in 
the Lebanon, having a special rite. 

MARRIAGE, MIXED. — A mar- 
riage between a Catholic and one who, 
though baptized, does not profess the 
Catholic faith. The Church has always 
forbidden mixed marriages, and con- 
sidered them unlawful and pernicious ; 
but she sometimes permits them, by 
granting a dispensation, for very grave 
reasons and under special conditions. 

MARTYROLQGY. — A catalogue of 
Martyrs and other Saints, arranged ac- 
cording to the calendar, with short 
notices of each. 

MARY— The name of the Virgin 
Mother of God (Feast in September). 

MASS. — The Sacrifice of the Body 
and Blood of Jesus Christ, really pres- 
ent on the altar under the appearances 
of bread and wine, and offered to God 
for the living and the dead. It is one 
and the same Sacrifice with that of the 
Cross, inasmuch as Christ, who offered 
Himself a bleeding Victim on the 
Cross to His Heavenly Father, con- 
tinues to offer Himself in an unbloody 
manner on the altar, through the min- 
istry of His priests. 

MASS, ENDS OF.— The Sacrifice 
of the Mass is offered for four ends; 
first, to give supreme honor and glory 
to God; second, to thank Him for all 
His benefits; third, to obtain pardon 
for our sins; and, fourth, to obtain 
all other graces and blessings through 
Jesus Christ. 



MASS, HIGH OR SOLEMN.— 
With incense, music, deacon and sub- 
deacon, etc. 

MASS, LOW.— Without music, the 
priest saying and not singing the Mass 
throughout. If the Mass is sung, but 
without deacon and subdeacon, it is 
called Missa Cantata. 

MATRIMONY. — The Sacrament 
which sanctifies the contract of a Chris- 
tian marriage, and gives a special grace 
to those who receive it worthily. 

MELCHITES.— From a dogmatic 
and liturgical point of view these are 
simply Greeks living in Egypt or 
Syria. See United Greeks. The United 
Melchites retain the liturgies of St. 
Chrysostom and St. Basil. They re- 
turned to the unity of the Church 
under the Greek Patriarch of Antioch 
in 1686. 

MELLIFLUOUS DOCTOR. — St. 
Bernard. 

MEMENTO.— The remembrance of 
the living or of the dead, which is made 
in the Mass. 

MENDICANT ORDERS.— Religi- 
ous, who, by their rule, live entirely 
upon alms. In many cases, however, 
the rules have been subsequently miti- 
gated in this respect. 

MENOLOGY.— From the Greek 
word for a month, a calendar contain- 
ing the names of saints; equivalent to 
Martyrology. 

MERCY, ORDER OF OUR LADY 
OF (de Mercede). — An Order (first 
military, and afterwards religious), 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 



669 



for the redemption of captives, founded 
in 1223 by St. Peter Nolasco and 
James I, King of Arragon, together 
with St. Raymond of Pennafort, their 
confessor, Our Lady having appeared 
to each of these in distinct visions the 
same night. 

MERCY, SISTERS OF. — A con- 
gregation founded in Dublin, in 1827, 
by Catherine McAuley, for carrying 
on all works of mercy, spiritual and 
corporal. Each convent is independ- 
ent of every other, and is under 
the control of the Bishop of the diocese. 

MERIT. — The proportion which ex- 
ists between an action and its reward 
To merit supernatural reward an ac- 
tion must be performed for God, done 
freely, and in a state of grace, and 
there must be a promise on the part of 
God, without which we have no claim 
on Him. 

METROPOLITAN.— An Archbish- 
op who has suffragan Bishops. 

MILLENNIUM. — A supposed reign 
of Christ with His saints upon earth 
for a thousand years before the end 
of the world. Belief in this, arising 
from a misinterpretation of Apoc. xx, 
was widely spread in early times. 

MINIMS, ORDER OF. — An austere 
order of mendicant friars, founded in 
the fifteenth century by St. Francis 
of Paula. He called them Minims (i. 
e., the least), to humble them even 
below the Franciscans, who call them- 
selves Friars Minor. 

MINISTER.— One who serves at 
the altar especially at Mass. 



MINISTER (OF A SACRAMENT). 
— One who has the power of validly 
administering a Sacrament. The 
minister must use the correct matter 
and form and have an actual or vir- 
tual intention of performing the Sac- 
rament, or at least of doing what the 
Catholic Church does in it. For him 
to act lawfully, faith and a state of 
grace are also required, but the ab- 
sence of these does not affect the val- 
idity. A priest is the ordinary min- 
ister of Baptism, Holy Eucharist, 
Penance and Extreme Unction, a 
Bishop of Confirmation and Holy Or- 
der. In Matrimony, the contracting 
parties themselves are ministers as 
well as subjects, the parish priest be- 
ing present as the appointed witness 
on behalf of the Church. 

MINISTERS OF THE SICK. — A 
religious order founded by St. CamiL 
lus of Lellis, in 1586, for tending the 
sick and dying. 

MINOR, ORDER OF FRIARS.— 
The title of the Franciscans. 

MIRACLE.— An effect above hu- 
man or natural power. 

MISSAL.— The liturgical book con- 
taining the ordinary and proper of 
Masses according to the calendar. 

MISSION. — A course of sermons 
and exercises on the eternal truths, 
corresponding to the retreats of pri- 
vate individuals. The district placed 
under the charge of a priest is called 
a mission in England. 

MISSIONS, PIOUS SOCIETY OF 
THE. — Founded in Rome by the Ven. 
Vincent Pallotti, in 1835. 



670 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



MITRE. — H e a d-d r e s s worn by 

Bishops, abbots, and some others. 

MONASTERY. — A dwelling where 
men or women lead a coenobitie life 
under rule and vows. St. Pachomius, 
who built monasteries in the Thel- 
baid in 315, is regarded as their orig- 
inator. 

MONK. — One who leaves the world 
to practice the counsels of perfection 
in a monastic order. St. Anthony the 
Great was the first to gather disciples 
round him to be trained in virtue. 

MONOTHELITES. — Heretics who 
held that Christ had only one will. 
It was defined at the sixth general 
council (at Constantinople) that 
Christ "has two natural wills, with- 
out division, change, partition, con- 
fusion, not contrary to each other, 
but the human will following and 
subject to the divine." 

MONSTRANCE.— The vessel in 
which the Blessed Sacrament is 
placed for Exposition or Benediction. 

MONTH OP MARY.— May, which 
is specially set apart for devotion to 
Our Lady. 

MONTH'S MIND.— Special prayers 
and Mass offered for the dead on 
the thirtieth day. 

MORGANATIC M A R R I A G E.— 
Marriage of a prince with a woman 
of inferior condition, which does not 
raise her to his own rank. It gives 
legitimacy, though not right of suc- 
cession, to his children. 

MORTAL SIN.— A grievous offense 
against God. It is called mortal sin 



because it kills the soul and deserves 
hell. 

MOTET.— A piece of church music 
of moderate length, adapted to Latin 
words. The term was originally con- 
fined to those intended to be sung 
during the Offertory of the Mass. 

MOTHER OF GOD.— The Blessed 
Virgin Mary, because Jesus Christ 
her Son, who was born of her as man, 
is not only man, but is also truly God. 
She is our mother also, because, being 
the brethren of Jesus, we are the chil- 
dren of Mary. 

MOZETTA. — A cape with hood, 
worn by prelates and other privileged 
persons. 

MUNDATORY. — A linen cloth 
used to purify the chalice at Mass, 
and for similar purposes. 

NATIVITY FEAST OF THE. — 
Christmas Day, 25th of December — 
of B. V. M. September 8th. 

NAZARETH, SISTERS OF.— They 
depend on alms collected daily, and 
provide a permanent home for aged 
and infirm poor, and orphan and in- 
curable children. 

NEOPHYTE (newly grown).— 
Term applied in the primitive Church 
to converts newly baptized. 

NESTORIANS.— Heretics who hold 
that there are two persons as well as 
two natures in Christ. Nestorin.3 was 
condemned by the General Council of 
Ephesus in 431, which defined that 
Mary was the Mother of God. 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 671 



NIMBUS. — A circular halo or glory- 
depicted over the head of Christ or 
the Saints. 

NOCTURN. — Part of matins in the 
Divine Office. 

NOTRE DAME, SISTERS OF.— 
Founded at Amiens in 1797, and sub- 
sequently transferred to Namur, by 
the Ven. Julie Billiart, for the in- 
struction of children, principally of 
the poor. 

NOVENA. — A nine days' prayer, 
made in preparation for a feast, or 
at other times, after the example of 
the Apostles before Pentecost. 

NOVICE. — A member of a religious 
community who is undergoing the 
probation required before final and 
complete entry or profession. 

NUN. — A member of a religious 
order of women. 

NUNC DIMITTIS.— The canticle 
of Simeon (Luke ii), a part of com- 
pline. 

NUNCIO. — A Papal envoy, corres- 
ponding to the ambassador of a sec- 
ular state. 

OATH. — Calling God to witness 
the truth of what we assert, or to 
our sincerity in what we promise. 

OBEDIENCE.— (1) A moral vir- 
tue; (2) One of the vows taken i;i 
religious orders; (3) Voluntary, an 
Evangelical counsel. 

OBLATES OF MARY IMMACU- 
LATE. — A society of priests founded 
by Charles de Mazenod, afterwards 



Bishop of Marseilles, to undertake 
missions, etc. There are also sisters 
under the title of the Immaculate 
Conception. 

OBLATES OF ST. CHARLES.— 
Congregation of secular priests who 
"offer" themselves to the Bishop for 
any work in his diocese. Founded by 
St. Charles Borromeo in 1578. 

OBLIGATION, HOLY DAYS OF.— 
Days on which we are bound to hear 
Mass and rest from servile works. 
Besides Sundays those observed in 
England are: Christmas Day, the 
Circumcision, the Epiphany, the As- 
cension, Corpus Christi, SS. Peter and 
Paul, the Assumption of our Lady, 
and All Saints. Also in Scotland St. 
Andrew; and in Ireland, St. Patrick 
and the Annunciation. 

OCTAVE.— The continued celebra- 
tion of a feast until the eighth or oc- 
tave day. 

OFFERTORY.— The offering of the 
elements in the Mass after the Gos- 
pel; hence become the general name 
for voluntary offerings of the faith- 
ful in church. 

OFFICE, DIVINE.— A form of 
prayer consisting of psalms, lessons, 
hymns, etc., used by all the clergy 
and by religious of both sexes. This 
office is divided into several parts, 
called the seven Canonical Hours, 
viz. : Matins, or Nocturnal Office, to 
which are annexed the Lauds, or 
morning praises of God; the first, 
third, sixth and ninth hours of prayer 
called, Prime, Tierce, Sext and None ; 
Vespers, or even-song; and Compline. 



672 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



OFFICE OF B. V. M., LITTLE.— 
A short office in honor of the Mother 
of God, following the order of the 
Canonical Hours. It is given a place 
in the breviary and is daily recited in 
many religious communities and by 
others of the faithful. 

OILS, HOLY.— Olive oil solemnly 
blessed by the Bishop on Thursday in 
Holy "Week. There are three kinds, 
viz.: 1. Oil of Catechumens, used in 
the ceremonies before Baptism. 2. Oil 
of the sick, used in Extreme Unction. 
3. Chrism, or oil mixed with balm, 
used in Baptism, Confirmation, Holy 
Orders, and other consecrations and 
blessings. 

OLD CATHOLICS.— Heretics tak- 
ing this name, who deny the Catholic 
faith regarding the primacy and infal- 
libility of the Roman Pontiff, defined 
by the General Vatican Council in 
1870. They have also manifested their 
contumacy by holding communion 
with other false sects. 

ORATORY.— A place adapted for 
prayer. 

ORATORY, CONGREGATION OF 
THE. — A congregation of secular 
pries;s, founded by St. Philip Neri at 
Rome in the sixteenth century; intro- 
duced into England in 1848. 

ORDER, HOLY.— The Sacrament 
by which Bishops, priests and other 
ministers of the Church are ordained, 
and receive power and grace to 
perform their sacred duties. There 
are seven orders which are received 
in succession: Ostiarius or door- 



keeper, Exorcist, Lector, Acolyte, 
Subdeaeon, Deacon, Priest. The 
first four are called Minor Order?, 
and the three last Holy Orders. A 
Bishop possesses the fulness of the 
priesthood, that is, he has not a part, 
but the whole of that power of Order 
which our Lord gave to His Apostles, 
having the power of conferring the 
Holy Ghost by the imposition of 
hands and so continuing the Church's 
hierarchy. 

ORDERS, RELIGIOUS.— Societies 
of men or women united in the desire 
to renounce the world and lead a per- 
fect life. They are bound by vows 
to the observance of the Evangelical 
counsels, as well as to live according 
to certain rules. Some orders (con- 
templative) are entirely devoted to 
retirement and prayer, others (ac- 
tive) unite with these missionary or 
other good works. 

ORDINARY.— A name given to the 
Bishop of a diocese because he has 
ordinary (not delegated) jurisdiction 
and right to perform all ecclesiasti- 
cal functions in his diocese. 

ORDO DIVINI OFFICII. — The 
calendar of divine offices for the use 
of the clergy. 

ORIGINAL SIN.— That guilt and 
stain of sin which we inherit from 
Adam, who was the origin and head 
of all mankind. 

OSTIARIUS OR DOORKEEPER. 
— One of the minor orders. 

PALLA. — A small linen cloth to 
cover the chalice; originally part of 
the corporal. 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 



673 



PALLIUM. — A band of white wool 
with four purple crosses worked on it, 
worn on the shoulders. Every year 
on the feast of St. Agnes two lambs 
are brought by the apostolic subdea- 
cons into the church of St. Agnes at 
Rome, at Torre de' Snecchj, who 
sung. They are presented at the 
altar and received by two Canons of 
the Lateran who place them in the 
care of the nuns of St. Frances of 
R^me at Torre de. Snecchi, who 
make the palliums from their wool. 
These are laid by the sub-deacons on 
the tomb of St. Peter, where they 
remain all night. The pallium is 
worn by the Pope, and sent by him 
to Patriarchs. Primates, and Archbish- 
ops, in token that they possess the 
fullness of the episcopal office. 

PALM. — The emb'em of martyr- 
dom, and also in general of heavenly 
reward ( Apoc. vii, 9). 

PALMS, BLESSED.— On Palm 
Sunday palm and olive branches are 
blessed, ard borne in the hands of the 
faithful in remembrance of the tri- 
umphal entry of Christ into Jerusa- 
lem. 

PARACLETE. — A name of the 
Holy Spirit, rendered advocate by 
some, by others comforter. 

PARASCEVE.— Preparation, the 
day before the Sabbath ; retained as 
a name for Good Friday in the 
liturgy. 

PASCHAL CANDLE.— A large 
candle solemnly blessed and lighted 
on Holy Saturday, remaining till As- 



cension Day at the gospel s:'de of the 
altar a symbol of the fiery pillar which 
led the Israelites from Egypt, and of 
Christ, our never failing light. 

PASCHAL PRECEPT.— The fourth 
commandment of the Church, "To re- 
ceive the Blessed Sacrament at least 
once a year, and that at Easter or 
thereabouts." 

PASCHAL TIME. — From Easter 
Day to the end of the Octave of Pente- 
cost. 

PASSION. — The sufferings of 
Christ. The narrative of the same in 
the Gospels sung with special solem- 
nity in Holy Week. 

PASSION MUSIC— A solemn plain 
chant melody, of early but uncertain 
date. The text is divided between 
three "Deacons of the Passion," one 
of whom s : ngs the words spoken by 
Christ, another the narrative of the 
Evangelist, and the third the utter- 
ances of the Apostles and other?. The 
irxclainations of the crowd, h.ivre^cr, 
are more generally sung by the choir. 

PASSION SUNDAY.— The fifth 
Sunday of Lent. Crucifixes and im- 
ages are veiled, and the Gloria Patri 
omitted at Mass. 

PASSION-TIDE.— The season from 
Passion Sunday to Holy Saturday. 

PASSTONISTS. — A congregation 
of d'Vilped clerks, founded by St. 
Paul of the Cross in the eighteenth 
century; introduced into England in 
18-' 2. 

PATEN. — A plate used to receive 
the Host at Mass. 



674 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



PATERNOSTER. — The Our Fa- 
ther, or the Lord's Prayer. 

PATRIARCH. — The highest grade 
in the hierarchy. After the supreme 
Pontiff, there are four great patriar- 
chates : Alexandria, Antioch, Constan- 
tinople, and Jerusalem. There are 
three minor patriarchs, in Spain (of 
the Indies), of Lisbon, and of Venice. 

PATRON SAINT.— One whose name 
has been received at Baptism or 
Confirmation, or who has been chosen 
as the object of special devotion. There 
are also Patron Saints of cities and 
countries ; these cannot be chosen by 
the clergy alone, but the choice re- 
quires the consent of the people given 
by the secret suffrages of their repre- 
sentatives, especially convoked for the 
purpose. 

PAX. — The kiss of peace in the 
Mass ; an instrument used for the same 
purpose. 

PECTORAL CROSS. — A small 
cross of precious metal (sometimes 
adorned by jewels), worn on the 
breast by Bishops and Abbots as a 
mark of their office. Canons have 
sometimes the privilege of wearing it. 

PELAGIANS.— Early heretics, who 
denied original sin and the absolute 
necessity of divine grace ; their doc- 
trines, however, varied at different pe- 
riods. 

PELICAN.— An emblem of Christ 
in the Blessed Sacrament, from the 
ancient idea that a pelican fed her 
young with the blood from her own 
breast. 



PENANCE, SACRAMENT OF. — 
The Sacrament by which the sins we 
have committed after baptism are for- 
given. This forgiveness is conveyed 
to our soul by the priest's absolution, 
joined with contrition, confession and 
satisfaction. A priest, however (ex- 
cept at the hour of death), cannot ab- 
solve unless he has been approved and 
received jurisdiction, faculties being 
given him. 

PENITENTIAL PSALMS. — A 
name given to Psalms vi, xxxi, xxxvii, 
1, ci, cxxviv, cxlii, which express sorrow 
for sin and desire for pardon. 

PENTATEUCH. — T h e first five 
books of the Old Testament, attributed 
to Moses. 

PENTECOST.— Feast kept on sev- 
enth Sunday after Easter, to commem- 
orate the Descent of the Holy Ghost 
upon the Apostles at Jerusalem. The 
name is taken from the Jewish feast, 
when first fruits were offered and the 
giving of the law celebrated, which 
took place fifty days after the paseh, 
and passage of the Red Sea. 

PERSEVERANCE, FINAL.— The 
special gift in virtue of which a man 
remains in a state of grace in the mo- 
ment of death. 

PERSON.— The substance individ- 
uality complete of an intellectual na- 
ture. 

PETER'S PENCE.— Originally an 
annual tax of one penny for every 
house in England, paid to the Holy 
See; now a general term for collec- 
tions made for the support of the Holy 
Father. 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 675 



PHYSICIAN, DUTY OF. — He is 
bound by his state to urge the duty of 
confession upon the sick whom he at- 
tends in any serious illness. 

P I E T A. — Representation of Our 
Lady with the Body of Christ taken 
down from the Cross. 

PONTIFICAL. — Relating to Bish- 
ops; a book containing the ritual of 
Episcopal ceremonies. 

PONTIFICALIA.— The ornaments 
which a high dignitary of the Church 
uses in officiating pontifically; they 
are : 1. Buskins, sandals, gloves, dal- 
matic, tunicle, ring, pectoral cross, mi- 
tre (white, gold, or precious) ; 2. Cross 
throne, faldstool, gremial, ewer, can- 
dle, canon. 

POOR CLARES.— The second or- 
der of the Franciscans, founded by St. 
Clare at Assisi in 1224, an austere or- 
der of nuns. See Colettines. 

POOR, LITTLE SISTERS OF 
THE. — This society was founded in 
1840 in France for the support and 
relief of the aged and infirm poor, who 
are chiefly maintained by the sisters 
begging from door to door. 

POPE. — A word signifying father, 
applied to the Bishop of Rome, who is 
the Vicar of Christ, and visible head 
of the Church on earth, because he is 
the successor of St. Peter. See In- 
fallibility. 

PORTIUNCULA. — A little church 
near Assisi repaired by St. Francis. 
The indulgence known by this name 
on the 2nd of August was granted to 



this church at the request of the Saint 
and afterwards extended to other 
Franciscan churches. 

POSSESSION, DIABOLICAL.— A 

state in which an evil spirit, by God's 
permission, inhabits the body. When 
the devil attacks a man in a somewhat 
similar manner from without, it is 
called obsession. 

PRAYER.— The raising up of the 
mind and heart to God by thinking of 
Him, by adoring, praising, and thank- 
ing Him ; and by begging of Him all 
blessings for soul and body. 

PREACHERS, ORDER OF.— The 
official title of the Dominicans given 
them by Innocent III. 

PREDELLA.— The plane immedi- 
ately in front of the altar. 

PREDESTINATION.— The decree 
of God from the beginning to give 
His elect eternal glory, and the means 
to obtain it. 

PRECIOUS BLOOD. — The Blood 
of Christ, so-called because it is the 
price by which we were ransomed. 
(Feast on the first Sunday in July.) 

PREFACE OF THE MASS.— The 
introduction to the Canon, terminating 
with the Sanctus. It varies with the 
season or feast. 

PRELATE.— One who is preferred 
above others in honor or jurisdiction. 

PREMONSTRATENSIANS. — An 
order of regular canons founded by 
St. Norbert in 1119; also called Nor- 
bertines, and in England, formerly, 
White Canons. 



676 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



PRESBYTERY. — Dwelling of a 
priest or presbyter. 

PRESCRIPTION.— The acquisition 
of an object or a right on the strength 
of a long undisturbed possession. 

PRESENTATION. — 1. The fourth 
joyful mystery of the Rosary, com- 
memorating the Presentation of Christ 
in the Temple forty days after His 
Nativity. 2. Feast (November 21st), 
when the Presentation of Our Lady 
in the Temple at the age of three years 
is celebrated. There is an order bear- 
ing this latter title (founded 1777 in 
Ireland) for the Christian education of 
the poor as well as the rich. 

PRESUMPTION.— A foolish expec- 
tation of salvation without making use 
of the necessary means to obtain it. 

PRIEST. — One ordained to partici- 
pate in a special manner in the minis- 
try and pries :hood of our Lord. It is 
the office of a priest "to offer, bless, 
rule, preach, baptize." The matter 
and form of ordination to the priest- 
hood are : — 1. The imposition of hands 
by the Bishop, with the words which 
follow; also probably; 2. The delivery 
of the chalice with wine and the paten 
and host with these words: "Receive 
the power of offering sacrifice to God 
for the living and the dead in the 
name of the Lord." and. 3. A second 
imposition of hands with the words, 
"Receive the Holy Ghost; whose sins 
thou shalt forgive shall be forgiven 
them ; and whose sins thou shalt retain, 
shall Ve retained." 

PRIOR, PRIORESS.— The title of 
a superior of a religious house in most 
orders. 



PRIVILEGED ALTAR.— An altar 
with a plenary indulgence for one soul 
in Purgatory attached to all Masses 
said there for the dead. Sometimes 
the privilege is personal to the priest. 

PROCESSIONS. — In use for tri- 
umphs or supplication in nearly all 
nations, even before Christ. Besides 
those in Holy Week, the chief public 
penitential ones are on the Feast of 
St. Mark (April 25th) and the Roga- 
tion days. The feast of Corpus Christi, 
above others, is celebrated by festal 
processions of the Blessed Sacrament. 
Because of the present afflictions of the 
Church, processions of the Rosary are 
ordered during the month of October. 

PROFESSION, RELIGIOUS.— Tak- 
ing vows in an order or congregation 
after previous probation and novitiate. 

PROPAGANDA.— The Sacred Con- 
gregation of Cardinals and o:hers "de 
propaganda fide," entrusted with the 
interests of the Church in missionary 
countries. Also a college under the 
direction of the same. 

PROPAGATION OF THE FAITH, 
ASSOCIATION OF.— An association 
of seculars founded about 1819-22 by 
Pauline Jaricot in Lyons, but now 
spread thoughout the entire world. 
The contributions of the members (one 
halfpenny per week) form the chief 
support of Catholic missions to the 
heathen. 

PROPOSITIONS, CONDEMNED. 
— Sentences extracted from the writ- 
ings of an ai^thor which are danger- 
ous to the faHhful, and are, therefore, 
publicly condemned by the Holy See, 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 677 



and noted as temerarious, erroneous, 
heretical, e.c, as the case may be. 

PROTOMARTYR.— The first mar- 
tyr, St. Stephen; of England, St. Al- 
ban. 

PROTONOTARY.— One of the first 
notaries of the Apostolic See, succes- 
sors of those who, in the early ages, 
recorded the Acts of the Martyrs. 

PROVINCE. — 1. The territory in 
which the Bishops are suffragans of 
one Archbishop or metropolitan. 2. 
(In religious orders) that in which 
the members are under one provincial 
superior. 

PROVINCIAL.— (Of an order) a 
superior appointed to have authority 
within che l'mit of a certain province. 

PROVOST.— The head of a collegi- 
ate or religious body; the chief digni- 
tary of many cathedral chapters, as 
in England now (in other chapters the 
head is called Dean or Archdeacon). 

PRUDENCE.— A cardinal virtue by 
which is determined what should 
be done and what avoided. 

PURGATORY.— A place where the 
souls suffer for a time after dea.h, 
if they denart th's life in venial sin, 
or if thev have not fully paid the debt 
of temporal punishment due to those 
sins. ;he guilt of which has been for- 
given. 

PYX. — A vessel in which the Bless- 
ed Sacrrmert is reserved. 

QUAST-DOMTCILE.— Residence in 
a place with the intention of remain- 
ing there a considerable time, though 



not permanently; this causes any one 
acquiring it to be subject to the laws, 
and entitled to the privileges of the 
locality. 

QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY. — 
The Sunday immediately before Lent, 
of which the first Sunday is called "in 
Quadragesima." 

RECEPTION INTO THE CHURCH. 
— The reconciliation of converts who 
have probably been baptized; consist- 
ing generally in a profession of faith, 
conditional baptism, and general con- 
fession. 

REDEEMER.— A title of Christ, 
because His Precious Blood is the 
price by which we were ransomed. 

REDEMPTORISTS. — The Congre- 
gation of the Most Holy Redeemer, 
founded by St. Alphonsus Liguori in 
1732. 

REFECTORY.— The place set apart 
for meals in religious houses. 

REGINA COELL— The antiphon of 
the B. V. M. for Paschal time ; also 
used in place of the angelus morning, 
noon, and evening during that season. 

REGULARS.— Those bound by the 
three vows of religion, and observing a 
common rule (regula) of life, accord- 
in"- to the order or congregation to 
which they belong. 

RELICS. — The dead bodies or bones 
of holy persons, as also other things 
Which ha"e belonged to them in their 
mortal life. A more than ordinary 
veneration is due to the wood of the 
fv^q. other instruments of 

Christ's Passion. 



678 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



RELIGION, VIRTUE OF. — By 
which we give to God that honor which 
is due to Him, and that, not only in- 
wardly in our mind, but externally in 
our words, deeds and gestures. 

RELIQUARY.— A case for relics 
which, when placed therein, must be 
securely sealed and authenticated by 
competent authority before being ex- 
posed for veneration. 

REQUIEM.— Mass or Office for the 
Dead. 

RESCRIPT.— The answer to a peti- 
tion, given in writing by a prince. 

RESERVED CASE.— A sin, the ab- 
solution from which is reserved to the 
Bishop, or to the Holy See. 

RESTITUTION.— To restore ill- 
gotten goods, without which the sin of 
taking or possessing them will not be 
forgiven ; or to restore the good name 
of another who has been injured by 
speaking ill of him. 

RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.— 
The Soul of our Lord, which had been 
in Limbo since He died, was united 
again to His Sacred Body, and Christ 
rose from the dead, immortal and im- 
passible. 

R E T R E A T— Retirement from 
worldly intercourse for a time spent 
in silence and spiritual exercises. The 
ordinary duration is three to ten days. 

RING, EPISCOPAL.— This is given 
to a bishop at his consecration as a 
mark of dignity and also as a seal and 
token of fidelity to the Church 
which is the spouse of God. Bishops 



generally wear a ring with an ame- 
thyst, Cardinals with a sapphire, the 
Pope with a ruby ; but this is a matter 
of custom rather than rules. 

RITUAL. — The approved order of 
a ceremony; the book in which is set 
down the order of administration of 
the Sacraments, burials, various bless- 
ings, etc. 

ROCHET.— A linen vestment with 
close sleeves, worn by Bishops, Abbots, 
and others. 

ROGATION-DAYS. — Three days 
before Ascension Day, when there are 
public processions with the litanies, 
and for which there is a special Mass. 

ROSARY OF THE B. V. M.— A 

devotion in which fifteen decades — 
each consisting of a Pater, ten Aves, 
and a Gloria — are recited, and accom- 
panied, each of them, by meditation on 
one of fifteen mysteries of our Lord, or 
of our Blessed Lady. Of the fifteen 
mysteries five are called Joyful, five 
Sorrowful and five Glorious. The 
prayers are counted by the use of 
beads, arranged in order for five de- 
cades ; this is called a chaplet. When 
the beads have been duly blessed, 
many indulgences can be gained by 
those who use or carry them. The 
use of beads is very ancient, but the 
Rosary was given and taught by our 
Lady herself to St. Dominic as a means 
of overcoming the heresy then preva- 
lent. 

ROTA. — The supreme tribunal at 
Rome for the decision of questions of 
law, both civil and canon. 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 679 



RUBRICS. — Directions as to cere- 
monies which occur in liturgical books, 
so-called from their being generally- 
printed in red latters. 

RUTHENIAN CATHOLIC S.— 
Christians who use the Greek liturgy- 
translated into Old Slavonic, but own 
obedience to the Pope. See United 
Greeks. 

SABBATH.— The seventh day, on 
which God rested after creation, ord- 
ered to be kept holy by the third com- 
mandment. The Church, in the time 
of the Apostles, transferred the obliga- 
tion from the seventh to the first day 
of the week in honor of the Resurrec- 
tion of Christ. 

SACRAMENT. — An outward sign 
of inward grace, ordained by Jesus 
Christ, by which grace is given to our 
souls. There are seven : Baptism, Con- 
firmation, Holy Eucharist, Penance, 
Extreme Unction, Holy Orders, and 
Matrimony. When a Sacrament is 
given there must always be 1, things 
for matter ; 2, words as form ; 3, the 
person of a minister having the inten- 
tion of doing what the Church does. 

SACRAMENTAL GRACE.— A title 
to certain actual graces, to enable us 
to live up to the end of the Sacrament 
which we have received. 

SACRAMENTALS.— Certain prac- 
tices of piety, commonly so called on 
account of a certain similarity to the 
Sacraments, e. g., holy water, and other 
things blessed by the Church. These 
do not of themselves give grace, but 
in virtue of the prayers of the Church 



help to excite good dispositions in 
the soul. 

SACRED HEART OF JESUS.— 
(Feast, Friday or Sunday, after the 
Octave of Corpus Christi.) The Sacred 
Heart receives supreme divine adora- 
tion, being inseparably united to the 
Second Person of the Holy Trinity. It 
is the symbol of the love of our Lord 
in dying for our redemption. Many 
dioceses have been consecrated to the 
Sacred Heart and the festival has been 
raised to the first rank. This devotion 
has become popular in the Church 
since the apparition of our Lord to 
Blessed Margaret Mary Alacoque, a 
Visitation nun, in the seventeenth cen- 
tury. 

SACRED HEART, RELIGIOUS 
OF THE. — An order of nuns founded 
at Paris in 1800 by the Ven. Mother 
Barat, principally for the education 
of girls. 

SACRIFICE.— The offering of a 
victim by a priest to God alone in testi- 
mony of His being Sovereign Lord of 
all things. 

SACRILEGE.— A profanation of 
anything holy or dedicated to God — 
persons, places, things. 

SACRISTY.— A place adjoining a 
church, where the sacred vessels and 
vestments are kept, and where the 
clergy prepare for ecclesiastical func- 
tions. 

SAINT E UNION DES SACRES 
COEURS.— Founded at Douai, with a 
rule chiefly taken from that of the 
nuns of the Visitation ; for the educa- 
tion of girls of every rank. 



680 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



SALESIANS. — A congregat'on un- 
der the patronage of St. Francis of 
Sales, founded at Turin by Don l>osco, 
and confirmed in 1874 for active work. 
There are others under the same 
patronage. 

SALETTE, LA.— A mountain in 
Dauphia, become a place of pilgrimage 
since 1S46, when our Lady appeared 
there to two peasant children. 

SALT. — An emblem of wisdom : 
used in blessing holy water, and in the 
ceremony of baptism. 

SALUTATION, THE ANGELIC. — 
The Ave Maria (Hail Mary). 

SALVE RE GIN A.— Or "Hail, 
Holy Queen," the antiphon of the B. 
V. M. from Whitsuntide to Advent; 
also used as a prayer throughout the 
year. 

SANCTIFYING GRACE.— That by 
which a man is constituted perma- 
nently just or holy, the friend of God 
and His Son by adoption. Charity al- 
ways accompanies sanct ; fying gra°e, 
and many great theolog'ans consider 
that they are one and the same thing; 
for all the effects and characteristics of 
the former are attributed in Ho^ 
Scripture to the latter. 

SANCTUARY.— The nart of a 
chumh where the altar stands: a ho 1 }* 
place to which pilgrimages a^e made. 

SANHEDRIM. — The Supreme 
Council of the Jewish nation at the 
time of Christ (Matt, v, 22). consist- 
in? of seventy members (Numb, xi, 
16). 



SATISFACTION.— Doing the pen- 
ance given us by the priest in con- 
fession. It is a 7 so made by good 
works, mortification and gaining in- 
dulgences. 

SCAT a SANTA. — A flight of 
ovst Sa 'nv ascended; they were 
tw?nty-eight marble steps from the 
house of Pilate at Jerusalem which 
orr Sa ,r i ascended; they were 
brought to Rome in 326 by St. Helena, 
and are frequented by pilgrims, who 
ascend tbrm on their knees. 

SCALLOP SHELL. — The sign of a 
pilgrimage made to the shrine of St. 
James at Compostella; hence also be- 
come the emblem of that Apostle 
himself. 

SCANDAL. — To lead another to 
commit s'n : a sin against the fifth 
commandment, being equivalent to 
spiritual murder. 

SCAPULAR. — A part of the relig- 
ious habit, covering the shoulders, 
(scapu'ae), part be'ng in front and 
part behind. The scapular generally 
worn by the faithful consists of two 
small squares of woolen cloth -ioined 
by 4 wo strings. This represents the 
habit of a religious order to which 
the w=ar~r is associated. The prin- 
cipal one are: 1. Brown, of B. V. M. 
of Mount Carmel. Our Lady appeared 
to St. S'mon Stock at Cambr'dge in 
the thir'"^~n'h century, and promised 
as a singu'ar privilege for the Car- 
melite -rier that whosoever wore 
't ?t +% p : - r" a ath should nit suf- 
p.t.er-ii*" i"""nr m pli l P~ N • o Wh'te, 
" '-'-n TToV ^riuiy (Trinitarians); 
3. Black, of the Seven Dolours (Ser- 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 



681 



vites) ; 4. Blue, of the Immaculate 
Conception, to which unusually large 
indulgences have been granted 
(Theatines) ; 5. Red, of the Passion, 
revealed to a Sister of Charity i'i 
1846, w"th the promise that those 
who wear it shall receive every Fri- 
day a large increase of faith, hope, 
and charity (blessed by Vincentians). 
It is necessary to have a scapular 
blessed and to be invested with it 
(but not on renewal). 

SCHISM. — Formal separation from 
the Church. 

SCHISMATICS.— Those who refuse 
to be under the Supreme Pontiff and 
to communicate w'th the members of 
the Church subject to him. 

SCRIPTURE, INTERPRETATION 
OF. — The following words are in the 
profession of faith: — "I admit the 
Holy Scriptures according to that 
sense which our Holy Mother the 
Church, has held and does hold, to 
which it belongs to judge of the true 
sense and interpretation of the Scrip- 
tures; neither w'll I ever take and in- 
terpret them otherwise than accord- 
ing to the unanimous consent of the 
Fathers." In the literal sense the 
words signify certain things; but 
sometimes God ordained that these 
things a 1 so should signify others, and 
this is a mystr'cal or spiritual sense 
or meaning. Thus St. Paul says that 
Ismael and Isaac were types of Jewish 
bondage and Christian freedom. 

SCRUPLE.— A fear of actions 
being sinful, without sufficient ground 
for it. 



SEAL OF CONFESSION.— The 
obligation of keeping knowledge 
gained through sacramental confes- 
sion secret, even at the cost of death. 

SECULAR CLERGY.— The clergy 
of all ranks and orders serving Christ 
in the world, not bound by vows. 

SEMI-DOUBLE.— A feast of minor 
rank. 

SEMINARY.— A college for ec- 
clesiastical students, to be provided in 
every diocese according to the council 
of Trent. 

SENTENCES, MASTER OF.— 
Peter Lombard (1164) who wrote the 
four books of Sentences, for a long time 
the chief handbook in theological 
study. 

SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY. — The 
third Sunday before Lent; v'olet vest- 
ments begin to be used and the use 
of Alleluia in the Divine Offices is 
discontinued until Easter. 

SEPTUAGINT (seventy). — The 
chief Greek version of the Old Testa- 
ment so called because it was ap- 
proved and sanctioned by the Sanhe- 
drim, or because, according to tradi- 
tion, seventy-two men were employed 
on the translation. It was probably 
made in the third century B. C. Most 
of the citations from the Old Testa- 
ment in the New were out of it. 

SEPULCHRE.— The ordinary name 
for the place specially prepared, 
where the Blessed Sacrament remains 
from the Mass on Holy Thursday till 
the Office on Good Friday. 



682 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



SEPULCHRE, CANONESSES OF 
THE HOLY. — An order claiming its 
origin from the guardianship of the 
Holy Sepulchre, instituted by St. 
James the Less. Their habit was 
formerly white but black is now worn 
in mourning for the Holy Sepulchre. 

SERAPHIC DOCTOR.— St. Bona- 
venture (1274). 

SERAPHIC ORDER.— The Fran- 
ciscans. 

SEQUENCE.— A rhythm or prose 
between the Epistle and Gospel in 
certain Masses; "Victimae Paschali" 
at Easter; "Veni Sante Spiritus, " at 
Pentecost; "Lauda Sion, " on Corpus 
Christi; "Stabat Mater," on the feast 
of the Seven Dolours; and "Dies 
Irae," in Masses for the Dead. 

SERVILE WORK. — Occupation 
which employs the body rather than 
the mind. All unnecessary servile 
work is strictly prohibited on Sun- 
days and feasts. 

SERVITES.— Order of the Servants 
of the Holy Virgin, founded in 1233 
by seven Florentine Saints. The 
Third Order was founded in 1306 by 
St. Juliana Falconieri. 

SEXAGESIMA SUNDAY. — The 
second Sunday before Lent. 

SIMONY.— To barter any sacred 
office or thing for money or temporal 
consideration, so called from Simon 
Magus (Acts viii) . 

SIMPLE FEAST.— The least in 
rank ; the office differing little from 
that of a feria. 



SIN. — An offense against God by 
any thought, word, deed, or omission, 
against the law of God. It is either 
original or actual, mortal or venial. 

SINS OF OTHERS.— We are an- 
swerable for the sins of others when 
we either cause them, or share in 
them, through our own fault; this 
may be by counsel, command, consent, 
provocation, praise or flattery, con- 
cealment, partnership in the sin, 
silence, defending the ill done. 

SODALITY— An association of lay 
persons meeting together for pious 
purpose under certain rules. 

SORROWFUL MYSTERIES OF 
THE ROSARY.— 1. The Agony in the 
Garden ; 2. The Scourging at the Pil- 
lar ; 3. The Crowning with Thorns ; 4. 
The Carrying of the Cross ; 5. The 
Crucifixion. 

SOUL. — The spiritual substance 
which is the principle of life in man, 
and is immortal. 

SPECIES, EUCHARISTIC. — The 
appearances of bread and wine which 
remain after consecration. See Ac- 
cidents. 

SPONSOR.— A surety, hence a 
name for a godparent at Baptism or 
Confirmation. 

STATE OF GRACE.— To be free 
from mortal sin and pleasing to God. 

STATIONS, OR WAY OF THE 
CROSS. — A devotion which commem- 
orates fourteen stages of our Lord's 
Passion, from Pilate's house to Mount 
Calvary. 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 683 



STATIONS OF THE CHURCHES 
OF ROME. — Anciently processions 
with litanies to extirpate the remains 
of idolatry; now, indulgences to be 
gained by visiting churches appointed 
by the Pope on fixed days. These 
are named in the missal. 

STIGMATA. — Wounds resembling 
those of Our Lord, miraculously pro- 
duced in the bodies of some of the 
servants of God, but most notably in 
the case of Francis of Assisi (Feast, 
September 17th). The name is from 
Gal. vi, 17. 

STOCKS. — Vessels in which the 
holy oils are kept. 

STOLE. — A long narrow vestment 
worn at Mass, in the administration of 
the sacraments, and at other times by 
priests. It is placed over the left 
shoulder of a deacon when he is or- 
dained. 

STOLE-FEES.— Offerings made to 
priests who administer the Sacraments, 
or perform other rites of the Church. 

STOUP. — A vessel to contain holy 
water. 

STYLITES. — From the Greek 
stylos signifying pillar. Religious 
men living upon pillars. There were 
several of these in the East, of whom 
the most celebrated was St. Simeon 
(459), but only one was known in 
the West. 

SUBDEACON.— The lowest of the 
Holy Orders. It is his office to serve 
the deacon at the altar, and sing the 
Epistle. 



SUBJECT (OF A SACRAMENT). 
— One who receives a Sacrament of 
which he is capable. 

SUBSTANCE.— A being subsisting 
in itself (not needing a subject in 
which to be inherent). 

SUFFRAGAN BISHOP.— The Bish- 
op of a diocese in relation to the 
metropolitan of the province. 

SUFFRAGE.— Vote or interest at 

an election ; a recommendation or 
prayer. 

SULPICI ANS . — A congregation of 
priests taking its name from the 
Seminary of St. Sulpice in Paris, 
established by M. Olier in 1642. 

SUNDAY.— The first day of the 
week, observed as a day of rest from 
apostolic times in place of the Sab- 
bath. 

SUPREMACY OF THE POPE.— 

Being highest in rank, and having 
fullest power of authority and govern- 
ment. The English martyrs of the 
16th and 17th centuries shed their 
blood in defence of this. 

SURPLICE.— A garment of white 
linen worn in choir and in giving the 
Sacraments. 

SUSPENSION. — A censure, by 
which a cleric is prohibited from ex- 
ercising some or all ecclesiastical 
functions. 

SYNOD.— A term from the Greek, 
equivalent to council. Applied more 
especially to diocesan assemblies of 
the clergy, presided over by the Bish- 
op. 



684 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



TABERNACLE. — The receptacle 

in which vessels containing the Bless- 
ed Sacraments are reserved above 
the altar. 

TE DEUM LAUD AM US. — "We 
praise Thee, God," the hymn named 
after St. Ambrose, which is said at 
mat'ns, on feasts, and on all occasions 
of thanksgiving. 

TEMPERANCE. — A cardinal vir- 
tue, which moderates according to the 
dictate of right reason the desire and 
use of the pleasure of taste and touch. 

TEMPORAL POWER OF THE 
POPE. — 1. His right to possess and 
govern the patrimony of St. Peter 
and other s:ates of the Church; 2. 
His rights as Vicar of Christ in rela- 
tion to other sovereigns and States. 

TENEBRAE.— Matins and lauds of 
the three days of Holy Week, sung on 
the previous evenings. The special 
features are singing of portions of 
the Lamentations of Jeremias and the 
Miserere. 

TERTIARY.— A member of one of 

the third orders. 

THAUMATURGUS. — Workers of 
wondors. A title applied to various 
Saints dis anguished for their many 
miracles, e. g.. St. Gregory Thauma- 
turgus, or St. Philomena, who is called 
the Thaumaturga of the 19th century. 

THE ATINES.— Regular c^rks in- 
stituted by St. Cajetan in 1528. 

THEISM.— Belief in the existence 
of God on grounds of natural reason. 



THEOLOGICAL VIRTUES. — 

Faith, hope, and charity, so called, be- 
cause they relate immediately to God. 

THEOLOGY.— The science of God 
and things 1 elonging to God, or more 
accurately, the sacred teaching of di- 
vine things from those which have 
been revealed. Positive theology ex- 
plains and interprets the Scr'ptures, 
Fathers, and Sacred Canons. Dogmatic 
theology proves and defends truths 
of Faith, and by scholastic me hods, 
draws conclusions from principles, 
partly of faith and partly of natural 
knowledge. Moral theology regulates 
conduct by the principles of revelation, 
and the laws of the Church. Ascetical 
and Mysacal theology treat of the 
progress of the soul, in the spiritual 
life, and prayer. Na.nral theology, 
so called, has reference to the knowl- 
edge of God obtained by purely nat- 
ural light, and is strictly a branch of 
philosophy. 

THIRD ORDERS.— First instituted 
by St. Francis and St. Dominic as a 
sort of middle term between the 
world and the cloister for men and 
women who should be bound by rule 
to dress more soberly and lead more 
regular and austere lives than ordin- 
ary persons. Each has h's own no- 
vitiate, profess'on and habit. Other 
orders or friars have also third 
orders. Many tertiaries live in re- 
ligious houses in community. Amongst 
others, St. Catherine of S ena and St. 
Rose of L'ma belonged to the third 
order of Dominicans and St. Louis 
of France and St. Elizabeth of Hung- 
ary to that of St. Francis. 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 



685 



THREE HOURS. — A devotion prac- 
ticed on Good Friday, in remembrance 
of the three hours our Lord remained 

upon the Cross. 

THURIBLE. — The vessel in which 
incense is burnt in the ceremonies of 
the Church. 

TIARA.— The mitre with triple 
crown worn by the Supreme Pontiff 
in selemn functions. Also called 
Triregno. 

TITHES.— The tenth part, held 
from the earliest time to be due to 
God (see Genesis xiv, 20; Levit. 
xxvii, 30; Heb. vii, 5, etc.). Their 
payment is the recognized fulfillment 
of the natural obligation incumbent 
on the faithful to contribute to the 
support of their pastors, which is also 
reckoned among the precepts of the 
Church. 

TITLE TO ORDERS.— The Church 
requ'res that her clergy should have 
the means of suitably maintaining 
themselves. The ordinary titles are 
the possession of a benefice or a patri- 
mony, or poverty (religious profes- 
sion). In missionary countries can- 
didates may be ordained on the title 
of a mission, which imposes on the 
Bishop the responsibility of provid- 
ing for their support. 

TONSURE.— The crown made bv 
shaving the upper part of the head, 
which is a d'stinctive mark of clerics 
and religious. 

TRADITION. — Truths handed 
down from one generation to anothe". 
Every Catholic is bound '"most stead- 



fastly to admit and embrace Apos- 
tolical and Ecclesiastical Traditions." 
The faith has come down to us by 
two channels — the Scripture or 
written Word of God, and Tradition 
of the Church, and Traditions in the 
Church, the latter varying according 
to their authority and evidence. 

TRANSLATION.— The removal of 
relics from one place to another, on 
the anniversary of which the feast of 
a Saint is often kept; the postpone- 
ment to a later date of the celebration 
of a feast, when it occurs on the same 
day as one of higher rank. 

TRANSUBSTANTIATION. — See 

Eucharist. 

TRAPPISTS. — A branch of the 
Cistercian Order of very strict ob- 
servance called after their first abbey 
of La Trappe in France. 

TREASURY OF THE CHURCH.— 
(Or treasure of merits). — The super- 
abundant merits of Christ and the 
Saints, constituting in the hands of 
the Church a store of which others 
may avail; th's is drawn from by the 
Church when she grants indulgences. 

TRIANGLE.— At Tenebrae, a stand 
in this shape on which are placed 
fifteen candles, to be by degrees ex- 
tinguished; one, that is, after each 
psalm, until a mystical darkness (it 
teing generally still day) is produced. 
The triangular arrangement is at least 
as old as the seventh century. 

TRIDUUM.— A three days' prayer 
or festal celebration. 



686 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



TRINITARIANS. — An order found- 
ed in 1198 by St. John of Matha and 
St. Felix of Valois for the redemption 
of Christian captives out of the hands 
of the infidels. The white scapular 
very generally worn belongs to this 
order. 

TRINITY, HOLY.— The mystery of 
Three Persons in One God. 

TUNICLE. — Vestment proper to 
subdeacons (similar to dalmatic), 
worn also by Bishops under the 
dalmatic when they pontificate. 

UMBRELLA.— A small canopy held 
over the Blessed Sacrament in pro- 
cession ; a mark of dignity which cer- 
tain persons or churches are entitled 
to have carried. 

UNITED GREEKS. — This name 
includes all who follow the Greek rite 
and acknowledge the authority of the 
Pope, i. e., Greek Catholics in Italy, 
United Melchites in the East, Ruthe- 
nian Catholics and Greco-Rouman- 
ian Catholics. 

UNITY.— A mark of the Church, 
because all her members agree in one 
Faith, have all the same Sacrifice and 
Sacraments, and are all united under 
one head. 

URBI ET ORBL— To the city and 
the world, said of the solemn blessing 
given by the Pope in front of the 
chief basilicas on certain feasts. 

URSULINES . — A teaching order of 
women founded by St. Angela Merici 
in 1537. 



USURY. — Interest or gain on 
money lent, exacted without any 
proper or just title. 

VAIN OBSERVANCES. — Syn- 
onymous with superstition, or sin 
against religion by way of excess, e. 
g., belief in omens, dreams, etc. 

VATICAN.— The church and pal- 
ace at Rome to the west of the Tiber, 
sacred as the burial-place of the 
Princes of the Apostles and many 
Popes. The great basilica erected in 
1506-1626 is more commonly known as 
St. Peter's. The adjoining palace 
is the chief residence of the Sover- 
eign Pontiff, and the only one oc- 
cupied by him since the robbery and 
profanation of the Quirinal in 1870. 

VATICAN COUNCIL.— The latest 
general council, not yet concluded. 
It was convoked by Pius IX, and met 
December 8th, 1869. Two constitu- 
tions were passed and confirmed by 
Apostolic authority, one "on the 
Catholic faith," the other "on the 
Church of Christ," in which the 
Pope's authority over the Christians 
was defined. The council was pro- 
rogued in October, 1870, on account 
of the sacrilegious invasion of Rome. 

VEIL. — 1. Humeral, worn by the 
priest at Benediction, and by the sub- 
deacon at High Mass. 2. Chalice, 
which covers the chalice during the 
beginning and end of Mass. 3. Tab- 
ernacle, silk covering ordered by the 
rubrics for covering the tabernacle 
wherein the Blessed Sacrament is re- 
served. 4. Nuns wear a white ve?l 
during their novitiate and assume a 



A DICTIONARY OF CATHOLIC TERMS. 



687 



black one at their profession, as a 
mark of their separation from the 
world. 

VENERABLE. — A title given to » 
servant of God, the cause of whose 
canonization has been formally in- 
troduced before the Sacred Congrega- 
tion of Rites at Rome. 

VENIAL SIN. — An offense which 
does not kill the soul, yet displeases 
God, and often leads to mortal sin. 
It is called venial because it is more 
easily pardoned than mortal sin. 

VERONICA'S VEIL, ST.— The veil 
with which the holy woman from the 
crowd wiped our Lord's face on His 
way to Calvary, on which His sacred 
features were miraculously imprinted. 
It is preserved in St. Peter's, and 
another fold of it at Jaen, in Andalu- 
sia. 

VESTMENTS.— The special gar- 
ments worn by the sacred ministers 
at Mass ; those worn by the priest 
are, alb and girdle, which are of linen ; 
the maniple, stole and chasuble of 
silk or other rich material, following 
the color of the day. A cope is 
worn at vespers and other ceremo- 
nies. 

VIATICUM. — Holy Communion 
given to the dying with a special 
form. 

VICAR. — A substitute or deputy, 
e. g., the Pope is the Vicar of Christ 
on earth; a bishop has a Vicar Gen- 
eral to act in his place. 

VICAR APOSTOLIC— A titular 
bishop (or occasionally a priest) ap- 



pointed by the Holy See to exercise 
episcopal jurisdiction in countries 
where there are no episcopal sees 
established. 

VH)I AQUAM. — The antiphon 
sung with the first verse of the Psalm 
Confitemini on Sundays during 
Paschal time in place of the Asperges 
and Miserere before High Mass. 

VIRGIL.— Watching ; the eve of a 
festival. 

VINCENT DE PAUL, SOCIETY 
OF ST. — A society of pious laymen 
founded in Paris, 1833, who meet in 
conferences and devote their time to 
visiting the poor and other works of 
charity. 

VINCENTIAN S . — ' ' Priests of the 
mission" founded by St. Vincent of 
Paul in 1625. 

VIRTUE.— The order of love, ac- 
cording to St. Augustine; or, accord- 
ing to St. Thomas, a good quality of the 
mind by which we live aright, and 
which no one uses evilly. 

VISION, BEATIFIC. — The sight 
of God face to face with the spiritual 
eye of the understanding, strength- 
ened by a special aid called the light 
of glory. 

VISITATION.— 1. Visit of B. V. M. 
to St. Elizabeth, (feast July 2nd) ; 
salutation was another name in 
former days for the same. 2. Epis- 
copal; periodical inspection of the 
diocese for its regulation and good 
order. 



6SS 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



VISITATION, ORDER OF THE.— 

Founded by St. Francis de Sales and 
St. Jane Frances de Chantal at 
Annecy in 1610. 

VOCAL PRAYER. — That which is 
uttered by the voice, not, however, 
without attention of the m'nd. 

VOCATION.— The disposition of 
Divine Providence whereby persons 
are called to serve God in a particular 
state of life. 

VOTIVE MASSES. — Those which 
do not correspond with the office of 
the day. 

VOW. — A promise willingly made 
to God, to do something pleasing to 
Him. 

VULGATE.— The Latin version of 
the Bible authorized by the Catholic 
Church. It is founded on the trans- 
lation made by St. Jerome, chiefly 
from the Hebrew and Chaldee origi- 
nals, or the old Latin text revised by 
him. 

WAY OF THE CROSS. — See sta- 
tions. 

WHITE FRIARS.— The old name 
for Carmelites. 

WHIT SUNDAY.— See Pentecost. 

WITCHCRAFT.— Dealing with the 
devil, either directly, or through soma 
one else who has a compact with him. 

WORKS OF MERCY, CORPORAL. 
— 1. To feed the hungry. 2. To give 
drink to the thirsty. 3. To clothe the 



naked. 4. To harbor the harbor- 
less. 5. To visit the sick. 6. To 
visit the imprisoned. 7. To bury the 
dead. 

WORKS OF MERCY, SPIRITUAL. 
— 1. To convert the sinner. 2. To 
instruct the ignorant. 3. To counsel 
the doubtful. 4. To comfort the sor- 
rowful. 5. To bear wrongs patiently. 
6. To forgive injuries. 7. To pray 
for the living and the dead. 

WORSHTP. — Honor or reverence, 
varying according to the object of it ; 
now generally the name of religious 
honor either the supreme adoration 
given to God or the veneration due 
to the Saints. 

WOUNDS, FIVE.— The wounds ia 
the hands, feet, and side of Christ, 
which remained in His Body after the 
Resurrection. They are the object 
of a special devotion ; and a chaplct 
in their honor is blessed by the Pas- 
sionist Fathers. 

XAVERIAN BROTHERS . — Found- 
ed at Bruges for teaching youth, 1836- 
46. 

YEAR, ECCLESIASTICAL.— This 
begins on the first Sunday of Advent 
(the Sunday nearest to the Feast of 
St. Andrew) ; the chief movable 
feasts are regulated by the date on 
which Easter falls. 

ZELATOR.— The name of an active 
member or officer in certain confra- 
ternities. 

ZUCCHETTO.— A skull-cap worn 
by clerics over the tonsure. 



dex of Contents 



Index of Contents 



Under this head will be found a reference list of all topics considered in this 
work. Some subjects may be considered under different aspects in various 
places. Effort has been directed to present all in a form of Index for quick and 
easy location, page numbers being used exclusively for this purpose and the 
topics printed in black type to make them easy to find on the pages. 



A 

Abbot 639 

Abjuration 639 

Ablution 639 

A. A. R. I. R 187 

Abraham Lincoln 635 

Absolution 639 

Absolution, Refusing 617, 623 

Abstinence, Days of 639 

Abstinence on Friday 376 

Acadians 40 

Accidents, Eucharistic 639 

Acolyte 639 

Actors, Catholic, Guild 589 

Actual Grace 639 

Actual Sin 639 

Adam's Temptation 621 

Ad Limina Apostolorum 639 

Adoration of the Gross 639 

Adrian, Alleged Bull of Pope 286 

Advent 381 

Advent 639 

Adventists 221 



Administrative Committee N. C. W. C. 272 



Affinity 640 

Agenics 425 

Age of the World 360 

Ages of Patriarchs 359 

Ages, The Dark 306 

Agnostic 640 

Agnostics 274 

Agnus Dei 640 

Alb 640 

Albigenses 226 

Alienation 640 

Allegiance to the Pope 281 

" " a Foreign Power 520 

Civil 537 

Alleged K. of C. Oath 289 

Alleluia 640 

All Saints 640 

All Souls 640 

Alms for Mass 640 

Alpha and Omega 640 

All Saints, Feast of 381 

" Souls, Feast of 381 

Altar 640 

Altar Boys 484 

Altar Breads 640 



692 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Altar Cards 640 

Antipopes 641 

Ambrosian Rite 641 

Amen 641 

America, Acadians in 40 

" Awakening in 548 

Canada's Aid to 44 

Catholic Voters Free 526 

" Catholics in Revolution... 44 
" Chaplains in Army, Navy. . 47 
" Chaplains' War Service... 48 

Chaplains' Aid Society 49 

Charity in 542 

Churches in 226 

" Citizenship 526 

Civil War Heroes 46 

" Converts in Defense 45 

Co-operation 544 

" Discovery of 37 

Early Priests in 38 

" Early Activities in 42 

" European Aid to 541 

" Exercise of Religion in... 42 

Father Gibault 45 

First Mass in 37 

First Priest in 38 

First Bishops in 39 

" Freedom 530 

Freedom With Restraint.. 531 

" Germans in 41 

Irish in 41 

Liberty 531 

Our Country 529 

Our Republic 522 

" Patroness of 444 

Pioneer Priests and Lay- 
men 43 

Place of Religion 532 

Poles in 41 

in 41 

Present Day Statistics in.. 67 
Privileges in 525 



America, Real History 541 

" Resources 529 

Rights 542 

" Sisters in Battle 46 

" Southern European Poles 

" Spanish Missioners in 39 

The Fawning Type 542 

The Pope and 520 

The Square Deal 525 

American Faith and Morals 523 

" Washington's Eulogy 45 

Americanism 519 

Amice 641 

Anabaptists 247 

Anathema 641 

Anchorite 641 

Angelic Doctor 641 

Salutation 680 

Angels 641 

Angels and the Fall 309 

Fallen 310 

Angels, Guardian 392 

Angelus 615 

Angelus 641 

Angelus, The 432 

" Prayer 433 

Anglicans and Greeks 294 

Anglican Orders 294 

Animal Fetishism 239 

Animals, Mistreating 623 

Anniversary 641 

Annunciation 378 

Annunciation 641 

Anti-Catholic Societies 256 

Press 267 

" Lecturers 237 

Anti-Christ 313 

Anti-Christ 641 

Antiphon 641 

A. O. H 185 

A. O. H. Ladies' Auxiliary 185 

A. P. A 263 



INDEX. 



693 



Apparitions of the B. V. M 441 

Apparitions at Lourdes 442 

Apochrypha 641 

Apostasy 641 

Apostle 641 

Apostles 15 

Apostles' Careers 17 

Apostles' Conversions 15 

Apostles' Tombs 18 

Apostleship of Prayer 616 

Arbitration and Popes 34 

Archbishop 641 

Archbishop Mundelein 128 

Hayes 160 

Canevin 272 

Glennon 160 

Curley 176 

Dowling 176 

Shaw 176 

Messmer 176 

Christie 208 

Keane 208 

Daeger 208 

Hanna 160 

Canevin 272 

Archimandrite 642 

Argument About Religion 227 

Arians 244 

Ark, The 356 

Art, Christian 489 

Mission of Christian 490 

The Church and 491 

Church Aid to 492 

Irish 492 

in Europe 493 

Art's Creations 489 

Artistic Expression 491 

Ascension Day 642 

" of Jesus 17 

Ancient Order of Hibernians 186 

Ash Wednesday 642 

Ashes, Blessed 378 



Asperges 642 

Aspersory 642 

Associated Catholic Charities of 

Chicago 130 

Assumption 380 

Assumption, B. V. M 642 

Assumption Sisters 642 

Atheist 642 

Atheists 274 

Atonement 323 

Attributes, Divine 642 

Attrition 642 

Augustinians 642 

Authentication of a Relic 642 

Aureole 642 

Aurora 642 

Austria's Priest Premier 551 

Autopsies 330 

Authors, Catholic 108 

Authors, Non-Catholic 273 

Autopsies, Church Law and 330 

Ave Maria 642 



B 



Baby, How Soon Baptized 619 

Backward Children 94 

Bad Catholic 306 

Bad Company 408 

Bad Luck, Wishing 625 

" Pictures 625 

Baltimore, Lord 540 

Banns of Marriage 394 

Baptism 643 

Baptism 397 

Private 398 

" A Saint's Name in 617 

" How Soon Administered... 619 



694 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Baptism of Converts 616 

Conditional 619 

Baptism, Form of 643 

Baptismal Vows 643 

Baptistry 643 

Baptists 219 

Barnabites 643 

Barry, Jack 510 

Basilians 643 

Basilica 643 

Banns 643 

Berengarians 226 

Beads 643 

Beatification 643 

Beatitude 643 

Beezlebub 336 

Beatitudes, Eight 643 

Bells, Church 643 

Benedictines 644 

Benediction of the Blessed Sacra- 
ment 373 

Benediction, Rite of 644 

Benefice 644 

Berretta 644 

Bible 644 

Bible, The 347 

Old Testament 347 

" New Testament 348 

Need of the 348 

St. Paul's Epistles 349 

Protestant 350 

Original Books 350 

" Use of the, in Dark Ages . . . 351 

Cost of a 357 

in English 351 

Before Luther 351 

" Revision of the Vulgate 352 

and the Church 352 

" Private Interpretation of the 352 

Teaching 629 

Tradition and 353 

Chained 629 



Bible Myths 354 

" Characters of the 357 

" Inspirations of Genesis 360 

Age of the World 360 

The Cave Man 361 

Higher Criticism 362 

Brevities of Interest 363 

Bigoted Catholics? 297 

Bigotry, History of 261 

Waves of 262 

War and 262 

The Know-Nothings 262 

A. P. A 263 

A Later Wave 263 

Ku Klux Klan 264 

" Evangelical Protestant So- 
ciety 265 

" Review of Ant i-Catholic 

Societies 266 

Anti-Catholic Press 266 

Lecturers ... 266 

A Blessing 276 

Bills, Paying 335 

Bilocation 644 

Birth of Christ 382 

Birth Control 421 

Bishop in Partibus Infidelium 644 

Bishop's Program of Reconstruction 152 

Pastoral 138 

Bishop, How Selected 396 

Bishops Visit Rome 30 

Bishop Schrembs 272 

Muldoon 272 

Russell 272 

Blackfriars 644 

Blasphemy 644 

Blessed Sacrament Fathers 413 

Blessed Sacrament on Good Friday. 610 
" Virgin, Dedication of Child to 612 

" " as Mediator 624 

Little Office of 61 

Burial Place of 613 



INDEX. 



695 



Blessed Virgin, Devotion of 15 Sat- 



urdays 632 

Sodalities of 471 

Sacrament Beads 614, 630 

" Sacrament Beads, Medal of. 617 
" Sacrament in Tabernacle. . . 622 

Blessing 609 

Blessings 644 

of Throats 377 

" Newly Ordained Priests 478 

" the Church 434 

Blind, Church Care of 131 

Boat 644 

Body, Resurrection of the 313 

Bollandists 644 

Bolshevism 154 

Bolshevists 224 

Books, Good 106 

Some Splendid 109 

" Protestantizing Catholic . . . 109 

On the Index Ill 

Bootlegging 606 

Boys, Church Care of 132 

Boys, The Wayward 573 

Big Brothers and 574 

Temptations 574 

Training Temper 575 

" The Gentleman 604 

Brahmanism 237 

Breviary 385, 617 

Breviary 644 

Bridgettines 645 

Brief 645 

Britain, Church of Ancient 295 

B. S. Coler's Views on Education... 91 

Bucket Shops 560 

Buddhism 235 

Bull 645 

Bulls, Fictitious 285 

Alleged Bull of Pope Adrian 286 

Burse 645 

Business, Dishonest 336 



Business Side of Parish Church 116 



c 



Cain, Descendants of 360 

Calamities, Does God Permit 324 

Calvinists 645 

Calvary 645 

Calvary Relics 438 

Camaldolese 645 

Camera, Apostolic 645 

Cameriere, Segreto 645 

Canada, French Influence 63 

" English Acquisition 63 

" Progress in 64 

" Missionaries in 64 

Growth of Church in 65 

" Population in 66 

" Prominent Laymen in 67 

" Catholic Statistics in 67 

Candlemas 645 

Candles 645 

Candles, Use of 621 

Before Altar 633 

Candles, Origin 631 

" Around Corpse 618 

Canon 645 

Canonical Hours 646 

Canonization 646 

Canonization of Saints 319 

" Procedure to 320 

Canonized Founders of Religious 

Orders 83 

Canon of Scripture 645 

Canon of the Mass 645 

Canon Law 645 

Canons, Regular 646 

Cantor 646 



696 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Canpa Magna 646 

Capuchins 646 

Cardinal 646 

Cardinal Newman 334 

Dougherty 112 

O'Connell 64 

" Merc er 253 

Cardinals, College of 24 

" Bishops, Priests, Deacons 24 

" American 24 

Conclave of 24 

Carmelites 646 

Carmelites, Discalced 646 

Carnival 646 

Carrolls, The 541 

Carthusians 646 

Cash for Proof of Charges 268 

Cassock 647 

Catacombs 647 

Catafalque 647 

Catechumen 647 

Cathedral 647 

Cathedraticum 647 

Catholic Authors 108 

" " American 108 

Actors' Guild 589 

Church, Early 17 

" Colonization Society 73 

" Daughters of America 197 

" Early Teachings 17 

" Education 19 

" Government 23 

" Hierarchy 22 

Holy Name 178 

" Home Library 107 

" In Middle Ages 21 

Knights and Ladies of 

America 197 

" Mutual Benefit Association 173 
" Obligation of Hearing Mass 629 

" Organizations 18 

Origin of Word 630 



Catholic or Roman Catholic? 440 

" or Universal 647 

" Persecutions of 19 

Recent History 22 

Relatives of Leading Amer- 
icans 346 

" Representation 536 

Republics 42 

Societies 177 

" Soc'eties' Loyalty 601 

Teachers 302 

The Militant 334 

The Last Minute 475 

" Total Abstinence Union . . . 328 

UnAmerican? 523 

Vote 291 

War Activities 58 

" Woman's League 196 

" Woman's League 553 

Catholic Church Extension Society 69 

Catholic ; sm and Americanism 519 

Catholicity 534 

Catholicity and Freedom 522 

" and the People 534 

" Suspicion and Jealousy of 535 

Civil Allegiance 537 

" Persecutions of 539 

Woman's Debt to 557 

Slanders of 539 

Catholics and Socialists 617 

" and Schools 524 

Catholics and Thanksgiving Day 338 

Bad 306 

Bad 631 

Catholics, Colored 602 

Fair Weather 476 

Catholics in Canada 63 

" in Non-Catholic Churches 630 

Catholics in Prison 298 

Catholics, Inventions by 292 

Catholics in War 527 

" Married Before Ministers 618 



INDEX. 



697 



Catholics, Pioneer 303 

" Unappreciative 547 

Why Cannot a Catholic Be 
a Citizen of the U. S.. .. 538 

Cave Man 361 

Celebrant 647 

Celtic Cross Relief Society 187 

Cemetery 647 

Cemeteries 137 

Central Society 197 

Ceremonies of Mass 457 

" Meaning of 457 

Chains of St. Peter 648 

Chain Prayer 623 

Chalice 647 

Chant, Plain 648 

Chantry 648 

Chapel Car 448 

Chaplains in Army, Navy 47 

Chaplains' Aid Society 49 

Chaplet 648 

Chapter 648 

Character 648 

Charges Against the Church 268 

Charitable Irish Society 1£5 

Charity Work of the Church 126 

Care of Dead 136 

" Care of Workers 143 

Charity, of St. Paul, Sisters of 648 

Charity, Sisters of 648 

Charity, Standard 545 

" Awakening in America.... 548 

Chastity, Vow of 610 

Chasuble 648 

Childhood, Society of the Holy 648 

Child Missioners 585 

" and the Film Hall 5f5 

Children at Night 569 

Care of 583 

" and Labor 

Children, Backward y4 

Children's Knowledge G07 



Children's Reading 107 

Children's Reading; Parents' Duty. 12 

Child's Vocation 568 

China, Religions in 232 

Choir 648 

Choirs, Mixed 390 

Christ 648 

Christian 648 

Christian Brothers 648 

Christian Brothers 82 

Christian Science 1C5 

Explanation of 166 

M ! nd, Matter 107 

Christ in the House 557 

Christianity 538 

Christmas 382 

Christmas 648 

Christmas Customs 439 

Cards 439 

Trees 440 

Church, Attitude Toward 261 

Attitude Toward Stage 588 

and State 519 

Believing All It Teaches... 625 

Blessings of the 434 

Care of Dead 136 

Care of Deafmutes 131 

Care of Down and Outs ... 138 

" Care of People 115 

Catholic 648 

Charges Against 238, 277 

Church, Place of 520 

Claim to Holiness 629 

" Decorations 120 

" Defamers 131 

External Worship 622 

Extension Society 69 

" for Workers 472 

" Growth in America 226 

" in South America 59 

" in Mexico 60 

in Canada 63 



698 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Church, Law of Autopsies 330 

" of Ancient Britain 295 

" Opposed to Science 292 

Militant 648 

Music 389, 632 

" Offerings 119 

Origin, Methods 117 

" Papal Approval 70 

Property 118 

Right to Teach 280 

" Salvation Outside the 300 

" Society 69 

" Soul's Safeguard 546 

Special Features 70 

Statistics Today 67 

" Supernatural 524 

Support 117 

The Message of the 528 

" Who Are Members of 448 

" Women's Head-covering in. 617 

Woman's Place in 555 

Power 558 

Work Done 71 

Works Seven Days a Week 470 

Churching 377 

Churching 649 

Churches, Confiscation of 257 

" in America 226 

Influence of 227 

Ciborium 649 

Circumcision 376 

Circumcision, a Holy Day 613 

Citizenship 526 

Civil law 649 

Civil War Heroes 46 

Civic Faith 550 

Civic Movements 601 

Clandestive Marriage 649 

Clairvoyance 174 

Clergymen, Non-Catholic 271 

Cloister 649 

Clothing 649 



Co-adjutor Bishop 649 

Coat of Treves, Holy 649 

Codex 649 

Co-education 96, 338 

" Educational Association ... 97 

Colettines 649 

College Education 578 

College Dangers 100 

College, Sacred 649 

College, the Sisters' 101 

Colleges, Non-Catholic 100 

Collyridians 224 

Color of Vestments 370 

Colored Catholics 602 

Statistics 603 

Colors, Ecclesiastical 649 

Colors, Papal 649 

Columbus 540 

Columbus Monument 304 

" Missionaries With 540 

Commandment, The Sixth 580 

Commandments, Arrangement of . . . 627 
Commandments, Division of the Ten 650 

Commandments of the Church 650 

Commendation of the Soul 650 

Commemoration 650 

Commission on Prejudice 271 

Communion, the Sick Room 402 

" Frequent 410 

" Preparation for 413 

First 413, 564 

Early 567 

" Frequent for Children. 568 
Daily 619 

" Decree for 411 

How to Receive Holy. 485 

" Miraculous Host of 

Amsterdam 485 

Communion and Sickness 615 

Communion, Easter 377 

Communion in One Kind 299 

Communion, Invalid and Fasting 617 



INDEX. 



699 



Communion of Saints 318 

Communion of the Saints 650 

Communion, Spiritual 650 

Communism 140 

Communists 224 

Community Recreation 596 

Compassion B. V. M 650 

Compostella, Santiago de 650 

Conclave 650 

Concordat 650 

Concordats 35 

Concupiscence 650 

Conferences, Ecclesiastical 650 

Confession 650 

Confession, Effects of 602 

Confession 405, 471 

" Before Mass 614 

Frequent 407 

Confession, Frequent 614 

" in Scripture 407 

" Necessary 407 

Needs for 406 

" Power of Forgiveness. . . 406 

General 615 

General 619 

" Indulgences 615 

Confession, Preparation for 651 

Priests Go to 633 

Restitution 407 

Confession, Scruples About 621 

Confessional 651 

Confessor 651 

Confirmation 399 

Confirmation 651 

Confirmation, Name in 620 

Preparation for 400 

Confraternity 651 

Confucius 234 

Congregation 651 

Congregations, Roman 651 

Congregationalists 220 

Consanguinity 651 



Conscience 651 

Consecration 651 

Consistory 651 

Consubstantial 651 

Contempt for Law 576 

Contemplation 652 

Contrition 652 

Convent 652 

Converts, Great Jewish 345 

Abroad 343 

Bishops 342 

" Some Examples 342 

Converts to the Church 341 

Converts' League, A 345 

Converts' Testimony 344 

When Baptized 619 

Co-operation 544 

Cope 652 

Corona 652 

Corporal 652 

Corpus Christi 380 

Corpus Christi 652 

Cost of a Bible 351 

Cotta 652 

Council 652 

Covetousness 390 

Cowl 652 

Creation, the Account of 354 

Credence 652 

Creed 652 

Creed and Country 519 

Cremation 288 

Crime, Youth and 574 

Crimes Laid to Catholics 634 

Critics of the Priest 120 

Crosier 652 

Cross, Sign of the 652 

Cross, Sign of the 429, 626 

" Symbols of 437 

Cross, True 653 

and Crucifix 436 

Cross and Constantine 20 

Cross, Stations of the 384 



700 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Crosier Indulgence 618 

Crucifix 653 

Crucifix, Veiling the 611 

Crusades 21 

Effects of 21 

Crypt 653 

C. T. A. U. 179 

Cultus 653 

Cure of Souls 653 

Curia, Roman 653 



D 



Dalmatic 653 

Damien Father, Hero of Molokai.. 450 

Damned, Sufferings of 615 

Dancing 332 

Dangerous Liberties 580 

Dark Ages, The 306 

Dark Ages, Use of the Bible 351 

Darwinism 357 

Dataria 653 

Daughters of the Cross 653 

Deacon 653 

Dead, Church Care of 137 

Dead, Mass for the 653 

Prayers for 609 

Deaf Mutes, Care 131 

Dean 653 

Death 311 

The Last Blessing 401, 402 

" Revelation of 617 

" Candles Lighted Around. . 

Corpse 618 

" Scapulars as protection 

against 625 

The Last Blessing 401, 402 

Debts, Unpaid 616 



Decalogue 653 

Decretals, the 653 

Dedication of Churches 653 

Defamers of the Church 113 

Answers to 227 

Defectives and Marriage 424 

Deference to Priests and Sisters... 435 

Deist 653 

Deluge, The 355 

Decency, Lessons in 134 

Dervishes 242 

Descent of Holy Ghost 17 

Desires, Evil 580 

Despair 654 

Detraction 654 

de, Veuster, Joseph (Fr. Damien) . . 450 

Devil 654 

Devil in Eden 355 

Devotion 654 

Devotion, Feast of 654 

Devotion of Nine Tuesdays 462 

Devotion of Nine Fridays 180 

Devotion to Our Blessed Lady 440 

Devotion of the Forty Hours 375 

Devotions, Explanation of Our .... 367 

Devotions, Monthly 383 

Diabolical Possession 675 

Dies Irae 654 

Dimissorial 654 

Diocese 654 

Dirge 654 

Discalced 654 

Disciples of Christ 221 

Discipline 654 

Dishonest Business 336 

Dismas 334 

Dispensation 654 

Dispensations 223 

Dishonesty 335 

Distractions at Prayers 615 

Distrikt Verbund 187 

Divination 654 



INDEX. 

Divorce 654 Easter 



Divorce Facts 605 

Divorce, Our National Shame 417 

And Race Suicide 418 

Divorce Facts 605 

Doctor of the Church 654 

Dogma 654 

Dolors, Seven 654 

Dom Sturgo 551 

Dominicans 655 

Donatists 655 

Douay Bible 655 

Double Feasts 655 

Dove 655 

Dowieites 223 

Down and Out Care 128 

Doxology 655 

Drama 494 

Deathbed Repentance 615 

Dressing, Immodest 570 

Drink, Mortal Sin of, 328 

Drug Victims • 576 

Druidism 240 

Druids in Ireland 241 

Duel 655 

Duels 337 

Dunkards 222 

Dulia 655 

Duties of Sponsor 358 

" Renaissance 494 

The Spirit of the Church. . . 495 

" Holy Grail 495 



E 



Early Church 17 

" Ti aditions ; . 13 

Heresies 20 



701 



655 

Easter Communion 377 

Easter Dawn 544 

Easter Duty, 618 

Easter Water 633 

Eastern Star 620 

Eating Meat on Friday 613 

Ecclesiastical Titles 478 

Ecstasy, State of 655 

Education In America 87 

" Catholic Sacrifice for ... 87 

Children Backward 94 

Parents Duty In 95 

Gary Plan of 98 

Montessori Methods 99 

Bird S. Coler's Views on 91 
Father Yorke's Views on 92 

" Agnes Repplier 93 

Katherine F. Gerould . . 93 

Eddy Mrs. Christian Science 164 

Eden 355 

Editors, Catholic, In Old Days 103 

Editors, Catholic, of Today 103 

Editors, Anti-Catholic 267 

Education, College 578 

Educational Vaudeville 93 

Educators, non-Catholic 271 

Educators, Prominent Catholic ... 97 

Egypt, Religions of 239 

Ejaculation 655 

Elevation in the Mass 655 

Elevation, Prayer at the 614 

Ember Days 383 

Emerald Benefit Association 186 

Ember Days 655 

Eminence 656 

Employment, Church Interest in . . 125 

Enfant de Marie 477 

Enclosure 656 

Encyclical 656 

End of the World 609 

English, Bible in 351 



702 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Episcopalians 218 

Episcopal Ring 678 

Epicheia 656 

Epiphany 376 

Epiphany 656 

Episcopate 656 

Epistle 656 

Epistles, St. Pauls 349 

Espousal 656 

Eschatology 311 

Ethical Culture 221 

Eucharist, Holy 656 

Eugenics 421 

Eutychians 225 

Evangelical Counsels 656 

Evangelical Protestant Society .... 265 

Evangelists 656 

Evil, Permitting 625 

Evil Desires 580 

Evil Thoughts 409 

Evolution 357, 358 

Ex-Cathedra 656 

Excommunication 657 

Exercises, Spiritual 657 

Exorcism 657 

Exposition 657 

Extreme Unction 400 

Extreme Unction 657 

Ex Voto 657 

External Worship 622 



F 



Faculties 657 

Faith 657 

Faith, American 523 

Civic 550 

Faith and Popular Government ... 42 



Faith, Catholics Who Fall Away 



From 303 

Faithful Companions of Jesus.... 657 

Faithful Virgin, Religious of 657 

Faldstool 657 

Fall Aways, Real 305 

Family Limitation 420 

Family Prayers 566 

Family Tattlers 600 

Farmers Learn From the Monks. . . . 599 

Fan 657 

Fashions and Modesty 571 

Fasting Days 657 

Fasts 383 

Father 657 

Father Damien 450 

Father Ripple, O. P 368 

Fathers of the Blessed Sacrament. . 413 

Fathers of the Church 18 

Fathers of the Church 658 

Father, The Title 478 

Fear 658 

Feasts 474 

All Saints 381 

All Souls Day 381 

Annunciation 378 

" Ascension 380 

" Assumption 380 

Birth of Christ 382 

" Candlemas Day, Purific- 
ation 377 

Circumcision 376 

Corpus Christi 380 

Epiphany 376 

Good Friday 379 

Holy Days of Obligation. . . 376 

Holy Saturday 379 

Holy Thursday 379 

Immaculate Conception . . 382 
Movable and Immovable . . 383 
" Our Lady Mater Admirabilis 515 
Palm Sunday 378 



INDEX. 



703 



Feasts, Pentecost 380 

" Rogation Days 380 

Rosary 381 

St. Anne 380 

The Resurrection 379 

Feasts of Canonized, Founders of 

Orders 83 

Federation of Catholic Societies . . . 188 

Fetishism 233 

Feudal System 149 

" " In America 150 

Fictitious Bulls 285 

Filioque 658 

Fire, Blessing of New 658 

First American Nun 17 

" Sisters in America 78 

Fisherman's Ring 658 

First Friday 171 

Flag, A Tribute 553 

Flaminian Gate 658 

Forbidden Books 110 

" Rules for Ill 

Forbidden Societies 189 

Forbidden Times of Marriage 658 

Foresters, Catholic Order of 183 

Women's Catholic Order 193 

Forgiveness, Power of 406 

Forgotten Sins 609 

Forty Hours, Devotion of 658 

Fortune Telling 174 

Forty Hours Devotion 375 

Forum 658 

Four Last Things, The 311 

France, Race Suicide and Divorce 

in 418 

Franciscans 658 

Fraternal Correction 658 

Frear 659 

Friars Preachers 655 

Friday, Abstinence on 376 

Fridays, Nine, Promises 619 

Friday, Use of Meat on 614 



Friendly Sons of St. Patrick 185 

Friends of Irish Freedom 187 

Frontal 659 

Fruits of the Holy Ghost 659 

Funeral Offerings and Customs . . . 475 

A Spiritual Bouquet 476 

Funnies 112 



G 



Galileo 281 

Gallicanism 659 

Gambling 326 

Gary Plan of Education 98 

Gaudete Sunday 659 

Gehenna 659 

General Confession 659 

General of An Order 659 

Genesis, Inspiration of 360 

Genuflection 659, 621 

Gifts of the Holy Ghost 659 

Girl Who Works 571 

Girls, Entertainment 569 

"■ Marriage Thoughts for 417 

Girdle 659 

Gloria In Excelsis 659 

Patri 659 

Glorified Bodies 659 

Glorious Mysteries 659 

God 659 

God's Acre 660 

God and Calamities 324 

God's Judgment 337 

God, Truce of 449 

Golden Rose 660 

" Books 106 

Good Friday 625, 660 



704 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Good Shepherd Sisters 134, 660 

" Night 474 

" Thief 334 

Gospel, Liturgical Use 660 

" Arrangement 383 

Grace 660, 404 

" At Meals 660, 430 

Gradual Psalms 660 

Grayfriars 661 

Great Britain, Divorce In 418 

Great Women 563 

Greek Church. Orthodox 230 

Uniat 230 

Branches 331 

History 660 

Anglicans and 295 

Greek Schism 226 

Gregorian Music 660 

Gremial 660 

Guardian 661 

Guardian Angel 661 

Guardians of Liberty 266 

Guild, Catholics Actors 589 



H 



Hagiography 661 

Hail Mary, History of 445 

Halo 661 

Handwriting on Wall 365 

Heaven 315, 661 

Heaven, Knowing Friends in 616 

Heaven, Meriting 616 

Heaven, non-Catholics in 633 

Heaven and Earth, Meaning of 612 

Heaven and Earth, Union of 322 

Heart of Mary, Most Pure 661 



Heresies 245, 412, 661 

Early 20 

" Blessings of 20 

Lutherans 217 

Methodists 217 

Episcopalians 218 

" Presbyterians 219 

Baptists 219 

" Congregationalists 220 

Unitarians 220 

Disciples of Christ 221 

Ethical Culture 221 

" Universalist 221 

Heresies, Ancient Forms 245 

" Arians 245 

Collyridians 245 

" Manicheans 245 

Macedonians 245 

" Pelagians 245 

" Nestorians 246 

Eutychians 246 

" Semi-Pelagians 246 

Monothelites 246 

Iconoclasts 246 

Greek Schism 246 

" Berengarius 246 

" Albigenses 246 

Wyclif 247 

Hussites 247 

" Anabaptists 247 

Jansenism 248 

Old Catholics 248 

" Modernism 249 

Heresies, Unusual Forms 221 

Adventists 221 

Quakers 221 

Dunkards 222 

Mennonites 222 

" Mormons 223 

Dowieites 223 

" Communists 224 

" Moravians 224 



INDEX. 



705 



Heresies, Waldenses 225 

" Salvation Army 225 

Y. M. C. A 249 

Hermits 20, 661 

Hell 316, 661 

" Length of Torment 317 

" Location of 317 

Hibernal Funeral Society 186 

Hibernian Fire Co 185 

Society, Relief of Emi- 
grants 185 

Hibernians, Ancient Order of 186 

" Ladies' Aux 195 

Hierarchy 22, 661 

Higher Critics 362 

History's Warning 532 

Holiness 661 

Holy Ghost, Sin Against the . . .612, 661 

" Ghost 661 

" Child Jesus, Sisters of 661 

" Days of Obligation 613 

" Eucharist 656 

" Grail 495 

" Guardian Angels 392 

" Hour 181 

" Name Society 178 

Tribute to Pope 368 

" Night 512 

" Oils A 672 

" Orders 403 

" Places 661 

" Scripture, Names of Books . . 623 

" Sacrifice 367 

" Saturday 379 

" Sepulchre 365 

" Thursday 379 

" Water 610, 662 

" Use of . . 430 

" Week 379, 662 

Hosanna 662 

Holland's Diplomat 552 

Home Happiness 141 



Home, the First School 566 

Show Your Best Side at . . . 573 

Troubles 600 

Hospitals of St. John 662 

Host 662 

Huss 247 

Hypostatic Union 662 

Hypnotism 173 

" In Medicine 174 



I 



Inconoclast 662 

Iconoclasts 246 

Idolatry 662 

Ignorance 662 

Immaculate Conception Frontispiece 

Immaculate Conception . . 382, 627, 662 

Images 662 

Immodest Dress 571 

Immigrants 304 

Immunity 663 

Impediments to Marriage 663 

Imposition 664 

Imposition of Hands 663 

Impressions 663 

Incarnation 663 

Index of Forbidden Books 110, 663 

" How to Put Books on Ill 

Indulgence of the Portiuncula .... 466 
Indulgences 286, 473 

" Are They Permissions 

to Commit Sin 624 

" Charges That They Are 

Sold 287 

Gained by Visit to 
Church 613 



706 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Indulgences Applied to Living .... 615 

On New Crucifix 617 

Applied to Souls in 

Purgatory 618 

Attached to Way of 

Cross 619 

Plenary 612 

After Com- 
munion . . 612 
Gained While in Mor- 
tal Sin 611 

Indult 663 

Infallibility 279 

Alleged Failures of . . . 280 

Infant of Prague 610 

Interpretation 352 

Inventions by Catholics 292 

Injuries Done, Repaying 336 

Instruction on Our Lords Life 565 

Invalids fasting for Communion . . . 617 

Incense 663 

Incense, Use of 432 

Infallibility, Papal 279 

Investments 559 

Infallibility, Alleged Failure of. 280, 663 

Infusion 664 

I. N. R. I., Meaning of 611, 664 

Institute B. V. M 664 

Inspiration of Scripture 664 

Irish Martyrs, Archbishops and 

Bishops 664 

Intention 664 

Interdict 664 

Irish Catholic Benevolent Union... 186 
Irish Martyrs, Secular Clergy.. 258, 664 

Internuncio 664 

Interstices 664 

Irish Martyrs, Religious Orders258, 664 

Introit 664 

Irish Martyrs, Women 258, 664 

Irregularity „ 664 



Irish Martyrs, Laymen and Noble- 



men 258, 664 

Itinerary 664 

Irish Martyrs Under Penal Laws . . . 257 

Irish Leaders 552 

Irish Societies in America 175 

I. W. W 144, 157 

Inquisition, Spanish 277 



J 



Jansenism 248, 412, 664 

Japan, Religions of 238 

Jealousy 535 

Jesus Christ 665 

" and Little Ones 560 

" " Ascension of 17 

" Birth of 14, 382 

" " Crucifixion 16 

" Coming of 14 

" Hidden Life of 14 

" " Last Supper 15 

" " Miracles of 15 

" Passion of 16 

Public Life of 14 

" Saluting, In Taber- 
nacle 474 

Jesuits 665 

" Alleged Motto of 284 

Jewish Converts 344 

Joan, Fable of Pope 285 

Joiners 215 

J. M. J 612, 618 

Jonas 355 

Jcsephite Fathers 665 

Joseph, Sisters of St 665 

Joyful Mysteries 665 



INDEX. 



707 



Joys of Mary 665 

Judges 364 

Judgment, Particular 665 

" General 314 

Place of 315 

of God 337 

Jurisdiction I 665 

Justice 665 

Justification 665 



K 



Kabbalah 213 

Katholischer Vereinsbund 188 

Keys, Power of the 666 

Kings 366 

Knights of Columbus 53, 190 

Work In Mexico 53 

Supreme Directors 304 

" In Camps 53 

" Overseas 55 

" Finances 54 

" Welfare Success 53 

" Personnel Overseas 55 

" History Prizes 55 

" Order for Juniors 56 

Faked Oaths 56, 264 

Order History 189 

Social Work 190 

And Columbus Day 192 

Knights of Pythias 215 

Knights of Luther 266 

Knights of St. John 198 

Know Nothings, The 262 

Knowledge of Religion 572 

Koran 241 

Ku Klux Klan 264 

Kyrie Eleison 666 



1 



Labor 124 

" Child 143, 151, 584 

Church Care of 141, 150 

" Catholics in Cause 150 

Demands of 156 

" Guilds 148 

" Leaders 147 

" Legislation 151 

" Women 143, 151 

Labor Unions 124, 143 

Bishop Carroll on 145 

" " Membership 147 

" " Advantages 148 

" Meaning of 146 

Laborers, Evolution of 145 

Labor-saving Machines 146 

Lacticinia 666 

Laetare Sunday 666 

Lamb of God 611 

Last Day, Signs of the 312 

Ladies of Eastern Star 620 

Ladies' Auxiliary, A. O. H 46 

Ladies of Isabella 196 

Ladies' Catholic Benevolent Ass'n. . 194 

Ladies of St. John 198 

Lafayette, Marquis de 634 

Lamps 666 

Language of the Church 666 

Latin, Why Services Are in 374 

Last Blessing 666 

" Minute Catholic 475 

Lateran, Basilica of St. John 666 

Latria 666 

Lauds 666 

Laura 666 

Lavabo 666 

Lay Brothers . . . . 666 

Lazarists 666 

Law, Contempt for 576 



708 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



League of Sacred Heart 179 

Lection 666 

Lector 666 

Lecturers, Anti-Catholic 

Lent 666 

Lenten Services 378 

Fast 609 

Leprosy, Sin and 602 

Lessons in Decency 135 

Libera 666 

Liberties, Foundation of 307 

" Dangerous 580 

Lily of the Mohawks 584 

Limbo 667, 319 

of Infants 319 

Little Office of B. V. M 616 

Lighting, Medals and 618 

Lincoln, Abraham . 635 

Litany 667 

Liturgical Books 667 

Liturgy 667 

Lollards 247 

Loretto 667, 516 

Lourdes 667 

" Apparitions at 442 

Loyola 611 

Loyalty of Catholics 601 

Luck, Good and Bad 175 

Luther 248 

" Heresy of 248 

Work of 251 

Grisar's Book on 253 

Lutherans 217, 667 



M 



Macedonians 224 

Magazines, Decadent 106 

Bad 106 

Non-Catholic 274 



Magi, the 392 

Magi, Age of Jesus at Visit of the. . 394 

Magna Charta 125 

Magnificat 661, 479 

Malta, Knights of 667 

Malthus Extremists 426 

Malthusianism 419 

Man, the Cave 361 

Maniple 667 

Manicheans 245 

Mantelletta 667 

Manners 604 

Mary 668 

" Month of 395 

" Mother of God 501 

" Most Pure Heart of 506 

Martyrs 483 

" American 65 

" Irish Under Penal Laws . . 257 

Martyrology 668 

Marists 667 

Maronites 658 

Marriage 414, 668 

Early 420 

Mixed 422, 668 

Preparations for 414 

Thoughts on 416 

Thoughts for the Man ... 416 

Thoughts for the Girl.... 417 

" of Cousins 611 

Forbidden Times for ... 383 

Ne Temore Edict 48', 

" Recommendations 488 

With a Non-Catholic .... 488 
Before Protestant Minis- 
ter 613, 618 

" Protestant Groomsman at 617 
" Prohibited Degrees of . . . 618 
" of Catholics Before Mag- 
istrate 619 

Defectives and 424 

" in a Protestant Church.. 615 



INDEX. 



709 



Marriage, Instruction for 427 

The Word "Obey" 633 

Mariolatry 441 

Mariazell, Our Lady of 513 

Marquis Lafayette 634 

Massacre of St. Bartholomew 278 

Mass, Ends of 668 

High or Solemn 668 

Low 668 

" Month's Mind 612, 626 

" for Conversion of Non-Cath- 
olic 613 

" in Other Languages 616 

Attending While in Mortal Sin 618 
" When No Other Persons are 

Present 638 

Intentions of 620 

Having One Said 620 

If a Person Cannot Go 623 

" Ceremonies at 367, 457 

" Meaning of Ceremonies ..467, 457 

" How to Hear 452 

" High 368 

Hearing 368 

" Influence of 470 

" The Hurry Out Catholic .... 452 
Vestments of the Priest at... 369 

" Rules for High 370 

In Different Rites 371 

" Reasons for Use of Latin... 372 
" Missing in Summer Vacation 388 

Explanation of 372 

Masses, Celebrating Three 373 

Offerings for 454, 456 

" Special Intentions 454 

" Offering for Souls 455 

" for Own Intention 455 

" Sanctuary and Choir 458 

" Nuptial Blessing at 610 

" for Deceased Non-Catholics 612 

Masons 210 

Why the Church Bans the. 210 



Masons, Testimony By the 212 

Fair-minded 213 

" Mystic Shrine 213 

Not An Ancient Order 213 

Mater Admirabilis 515 

Matthew, Apostle 612 

Meals, Grace at 430 

Melting Pot 266 

Menace 266 

Methodists 217 

Mennonites 222 

Meosiah 13 

Mexico, Church in 60 

" Extremes in 60 

Penal Laws in 61 

" Opposition to Church in... 61 

Education in 62 

the Penitentes 497 

Methodists 217 

Branches 218 

Mixed Choirs 390 

Modesty, Fashions and 571 

Modernism 249 

Mohammedans 21 

Mohammedanism 241 

Mohawks, Lily of the 584 

Molokai, Hero of 450 

Monothelites 246 

Montessori Methods of Education.. 99 

Monthly Devotions 383 

Month of Mary 670 

Month's Mind 670 

Mortal Sin of Drink 328 

Mormons 223 

Mortal Sin in Stealing 408 

" Forgotten 609 

Motion Picture Facts 591 

Cardinal Gibbons on. 595 

Motion Pictures and Morals 594 

Child and the .... 594 
Film Hall 595 



710 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Mothers, Some Thoughts for 564 

Morals, American Faith and 523 

Motel 670 

Movable and Immovable Feasts.... 383 

Movie Stars 597 

Movies, the 591 

Middle Ages 307 

Miraculous Medal 514 

Miracle 669, 445 

Liquefaction of Blood of St. 

Januarius 448 

Miracles, Explanation of 446 

" a Particular Case 446 

" Miraculous Host of Am- 
sterdam 485 

Stigmata 499 

Missal 669, 385 

Mission 669 

Missions, Pious Society of the 669 

Mitre 670 

Mission Field Summary 74 

" Headquarters 243 

" Indian and Negro 73 

Missionaries 20, 22 

Missions 433 

Objects of 433 

" Indulgences of 434 

Missioners, Child 585 

Monastery 670 

Monk 670 

Monks, Farmers Learn from 599 

Moravians 224 

Modernism 249 

Mother of God 670 

Motet 670 

Morganatic Marriage 670 

Monothelites 670 

Monstrance 670 

Mortal Sin 670 

Mundatory 670 

Myths, Bible 354 



N 



Narcotics 575 

National Catholic War Council ... 50 

" Special Wcrk 51 

Men's Work of 51 

" Women's Work of 51 

Historical Records 52 

National Catholic Welfare Council. 52 

Officers of 52 

" National Catholic Regis- 
ter 635 

Nativity of Our Lord 670 

Nazareth, Sister of 670 

Negro Mission 73 

Neophytes 670 

Nestorians 670 

New Thought 169 

Fads of 170 

New Age 266 

Neighbors, Non-Catholic 217 

Nestorians 246 

New Menace 266 

New Testament 349 

News, Sensational 113 

Nimbus 671 

Nocturn 671 

Nollens, Monsignor 552 

Non-Catholics 217 

Marriage With ... 488 
Opinions of the 

Church 271 

As Sponsors 613 

" Wearing Badges . . 613 

Non-Catholic Magazines 274 

Tributes 271 

Clergymen, Educat- 
ors, Authors, Phil- 
anthropists, States- 
men. 



INDEX. 



711 



Novenas 459, 614, 671 

" Popular 460 

Novice 671 

Nuns 671, 619, 620 

Nunc Dimittis 671 

Nuncio 671 

Nuptial Mass 610, 634 



Oberammergau Play Scene 320 

Ordeals 337 

Old Testament 348 

Order of Preachers 655 

Old Catholics 248 

Organ, Use of Church 632 

Original Sin 672 

Original Books In Bible 350 

Orphan Care 126 

Ostiarius 672 

Oxford Movement 255 

Ouija Board 169 

Our Lady's Feasts (See List) 501 

" " Apparitions 441 

Shrines 441 

Our Lady, Devotion to 501 

" of the Pillar 502 

" Espousals of 501 

Seven Dolors of 503 

of Good Counsel 503 

" " Help of Christians 505 

of the Wayside 506 

" " " Perpetual Succor . . . 507 

' Mt. Carmel 508 

" the Angels 509 

" the Snows 510 

" Kavelar 510 

" Martyrs 511 

' Luyan 511 



Our Lady of Montserrat 512 

'■' " " Czenstochowa 513 

" Mariazell 513 

" Miraculous Medal . . 514 

" Guadalupe 443 

" " ' Fourvieres 515 

' Loreto 516 

" Youghal 517 

" " Apparitions of 441 

Our Sunday Visitor 266 

Oaths 671, 632 

Oath, Faked K. of C 291 

Obedience 671 

Obligation, Holy Days of 376, 671 

Oblates of Mary 671 

Oblates of St. Charles 671 

Octaves 671 

Odd Fellows 189 

Offertory 671 

Office, Divine 671 

Divine, In English 617 

" Little, B. V. M 672 

O'Flanagan, Rev. M 552 

Oils, Holy 672 

Old Catholics 672, 248 

Old Fashioned Homes 136 

Oratory 672 

Congregation of the 672 

Orders Anglican 294 

Holy 672, 403 

" Religious 672 

Ordeals 337 

Ordinary 672 

Ordo of Divine Office 672 

P 

Pagans, Missions Among 243 

Paganism 232 

Palla 672 



712 



OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Pallium 673 

Palm 673 

" Sunday 379 

Palms, Blessed 673 

Palestine 14 

Pantheists 274 

Papal Infallibility 279 

Papal Recognition of South 636 

Papal States 32 

Papers, Anti-Catholic 267 

" Appeal to Reason 
The Menace 

" The New Menace 

" The Protestant 
The Melting Pot 



The People's Press 
The New Age 



Papers, Catholic 103 

Old Catholic 103 

" Readers of Religious 104 

Non-Catholic 274 

" Sensational 113 

Paraclete 673 

Parasceve 673 

Parents, Duty of 

" In Reading 112 

' In Education 95 

Talks to 582 

Disrespect to 582 

Neglect of 583 

Particular Judgment 312 

Parish School 68, 87, 121 

" Organization of 88 

" History of 88 

" Early 89 

Attacks on 94 

Position of 87 

Teaching In 122 

Teachers of 122 

Saving to the State 123 

" Legal Status of 339 

Parish Church 115 



Parish Helpers 123 

Paschal Candle 673 

Precept 673 

Time 673 

Passion 673 

Sunday 673 

Time 673, 378 

Music 673 

" Play 587 

Passionists 673 

Paten 673 

Pater Noster 674 

Patriarchs 674 

Ages of 359 

Patron Saints 461, 674 

of Workers 468 

Pax 674 

Paying Bills 335 

Penal Laws 255 

People's Press 267 

Persecutions 256, 480 

Causes of 480 

" Organized 482 

Pectoral Cross 673 

Pelagians 674 

Pelican 674 

Penance 674, 403 

Penitential Psalms 674 

Pentateuch 363 

Penticost 380 

Penitentes 497 

Perjury 632 

Perseverance, Final 674 

Person 674 

Peter's Pence 674 

Philanthropists 271 

Physicians, Duty of 675 

Pictures of Saints 322 

Pieta 675 

Pioneer Catholics 303, 43 

Pilgrimages 467 

Pious Practices 465 



INDEX. 



713 



Place of Judgment 315 

Plays, Amateur 592 

Indecent 588 

" Good 589 

" White list of 590 

" Church Attitude 588 

Plenary Indulgence 612 

Pontifical 675 

Pontificallia 675 

Poor Clares 675 

Poor, Little Sisters of 675 

Preachers, Order of 675 

Predella 675 

Predestination 675 

Precious Blood 675 

Preface of the Mass 675 

Prelate 675 

Premonstratensians 675 

Presbytery 676 

Presbyterians 219 

Polish Societies 183 

Politics, Catholics and 290 

Pope 675 

" Election of a 23 

" Choice of a 26 

" Veto In Election of a 24 

" Pius XI 23 

Popes, List of the 26 

Popes, And Arbitration 34 

" Temporal Power of the .... 32 

" And America 520 

" Audience With the 612 

Popular Devotions 459 

Popular Government and Faith ... 42 

Portiuncula 466. 675 

Possession Diabolical 675 

Prayer 675 

" Chain, The 623 

" Book 436 

" For Priests 475 

Prayers, Family 566 

" Distractions in 615 



Prague, Infant of 610 

Prejudice and the Stage 590 

Preparation for Marriage 414 

Press, Catholic 103 

Prescription 676 

Presentation 676 

Presumption 676 

Presbyterians 219 

Prejudice, Commission on 271 

Predestination 289 

Private Interpretation 352 

Priests Deference to 435 

Why They Do Not Marry ... 283 

" Prayers for 475 

Blessing of 286 

May They Vote 616 

Martyrs 64 

Priest Hunters 256 

Priesthood 403, 676 

Prior, Prioress 676 

Privileged Altar 676 

Prison, Catholics in 296 

Processions 676 

Profession Religious 676 

Promises to St. Margaret Mary 180 

Propaganda 676 

Propagation of the Faith 72 

Mission Work of 72 

Prophecies of St. Malachy 33 

Propositions, Condemned 676 

Proselyting 304 

Protestant Rangers 266 

Protestant, Origin of Word 630 

Protomartyr 676 

Protonotary 677 

Province 677 

Provincial 677 

Provost 677 

GAL SEVEN 

Prudence 677 

Public Schools 93 

Public School 266 



714 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Defense League 268 

Punishment, Its Nature 316 

Purgatory 677, 617, 626, 322 

Souls in 607 

Purification ' 377 

Pyx 677 

Q 

Quasi-Domicile 677 

Quinquagesima 677 

Quakers 221 

R 

Race Suicide, Divorce and 418 

Rash Judgment 297 

Rationalist Press 268 

Reception into the Church 677 

Recommendations Committee On Re- 
ligious Prejudice 269 

Redeemer 677 

Redemptorists 677 

Refectory : 677 

Regina Coeli 677 

Red Cross and Its Origin 451 

Republics, Catholic 42 

Religions in Army and Navy 56 

Religious Orders in America 75 

First Priests 75 

" Church Settlements 75 

" First Parishes 76 

The First Nun .......... 77 

First Sisters ............ 78 

Sisters' Settlements ...... 79 

" Varied Activities 78 

Sisters Teaoh Trades.... €2 



Religious, First Printers 82 

" Feasts of Canonized 

Founders of 83 

Life 84 

Dry-Rot 303 

Training 122 

" Orders, Reference List. ... 80 

Jealousy 262 

Influence 533 

Reading, Catholic 103 

Readers of Religious Papers 104 

Read, What Catholics Should 105 

Read, Training the Child 10^ 

Reading, Sensational l iq 

Redemption Work, Sisters in 132 

Reconstruction, Bishop's Program.. 149 

Recreation 596 

" Community 596 

Reformation 22 

" in England 254 

in Ireland 256 

Red Flag 139 

" Cross and Its Origin 451 

Regulars 677 

Relics 677 

" of the Saints 303 

" Authentication of 642 

Religion, Virtue of 678 

Adventists 221 

Baptist 219 

" Congregational 223 

Disciples of Christ 221 

Dunkard 221 

Ethical Culture 221 

" Episcopalian 218 

" Exercise of 42 

" Knowledge of 572 

Lutheran 217 

Methodist 217 

Mennonite 222 

" Mormon 223 

Moravian 224 



INDEX. 



715 



Religion, Place of 532 

" Practical Application of. . . 469 

Presbyterian 219 

Quaker 221 

Salvation Army 225 

Shakers 222 

Summer 391 

Unitarian 220 

Universalist 221 

Waldensian 225 

Religions of the World 226 

of China 232 

of India 235 

of Japan 238 

of Egypt 239 

Dowieism 223 

Community 224 

Religious Profession 676 

Reliquary 678 

Renaissance 494 

Rescript 678 

Requiem 678 

Reserved Case 678 

Restitution 407, 678 

Resurrection, the 379 

of Christ 678 

of the Body 313 

Repaying Injuries Done 336 

Retreat 678 

Ring, Episcopal 678 

Ritual 678 

Rites, Mass in Different 371 

Rochet 678 

Rosary, Feast of 381 

Blessing of 610, 631 

Indulgences 610, 611 

New Crucifix on 617 

of the B. V. M 678 

Rogation Days .380, 678 

Rome, St. Peter in ................ 300 

Rota 678 

Rubrics 679 

Ruthenian Catholics .......... .633, 679 



Ruthenian Catholics Under Pope. . . 633 
" Priests Allowed to Marry 633 



Ryan, Rev. John A 553 

s 

Sabbatine Privilege 614, 617 

Sabbath 679 

Sabbath and Sunday 387 

Sabotage 152 

Sacraments 679, 397 

Grace of 679 

Baptism 397 

Penance 405 

" Holy Eucharist 410 

Confirmation 399 

Extreme Unction 400 

Holy Orders 403 

" Matrimony 414 

Sacramentals 429, 473, 679 

Sacred Heart League 179 

Benefits of 180 

" Badge of 609, 610 

Sacred Heart of Jesus 679 

" Religious of the 679 

" Pictures 431 

Sacrifice 679 

Holy 367 

Sacrilige 679 

Sacristy 679 

Sainte Union des Sacres 679 

Saints, Little Lives of 199 

" Canonization of 319 

Help From the 318 

" Reverence for 321 

Pictures of 322 

Patron 461, 468 

Relics of 303 

" the Communion of 318 

Use of Their Names 617 



716 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Samaritan Pentateuch 363 

St. Anne 463, 380 

St. Anne de Beaupre Shrine 464 

St. Agnes 200 

St. Augustine 201 

St. Alphonsus 208 

St. Anthony of Padua 462, 477 

St. Bartholomew, Massacre of 278 

St. Bridget 202 

St. Benedict 203 

St. Bernard 203 

St. Boniface 203 

St. Catherine of Siena 205 

St. Elizabeth 204 

St. Francis, Stigmata of 500 

St. Francis Xavier 206 

St. Francis of Assisi 204 

St. Ignatius 206 

St. Januarius 448 

St. John 200 

St. Joseph 632 

St. Jane Francis de Chantal 619 

St. Januarius, Liquifaction of Blood 

of 408 

St. Leo 202 

St. Louis 205 

St. Louis Cathedral 496 

St. Michael 199 

St. Mary of the Lake Seminary 352 

St. Mary's Training School 128 

St. Margaret Mary 180 

St. Nicholas 394 

St. Patrick 201 

St. Patrick's Cathedral 464 

St. Paul 200 

St. Peter in Rome 300 

St. Peter's Basilica 29 

St. Rose of Lima 207 

St. Thomas Aquinas 204 

St. Stanislaus 227 

St. Teresa 464 

St. Vincent de Paul 207 

Salesians 680 



Salette, La 680 

Salt 680 

Salutation, the Angelic 680 

Salve Regina 680 

Salvation Army 225 

Salvation Outside Church 300 

Santa Claus 439 

Saluting Jesus 474 

Saturdays, Devotion of 632 

Satisfaction 680 

Satisfaction for Sin 323 

Sanhedrim 680 

Sanctifying Grace 680 

Sanctuary 458, 680 

Scapular Medal 610 

Scapular, Mt. Carmel 612 

Scapulars, Five 614 

Neglect of 617 

and Medals 430 

Meaning of 431, 625 

Savonarola 283 

Scala Sancta 680 

Scandal 680 

Schism 681 

Schismatics 681 

Science, Church and 292 

Scripture 681 

Scruple 681 

Scrupulus People 410 

Schools, Parish 87 

" Parish, Attack on 94 

Public 93 

Public, Critics of 93 

" Boarding 97 

Non-Religious 91 

Early 566 

Why Catholic 102 

" Statistics of Parish 68 

Seal of Confession 681 

Secret Societies 189 

" " Condemnation of.. 189 
Secret Societies, Masons 190 



INDEX. 



717 



Secret Societies, Knights of Pythias 194 

Oddfellow 189 

" " Sons of Temperance 209 

Sex Hygiene, Teaching of 421 

Sex Hygiene, In Schools 421 

Secular Clergy 681 

Sears, Julia Seton 161 

Serpent and Devil 355 

Self Restraint 391 

Sensational News 113 

Seipel, Msgr. Ignatz 551 

Shintoism 235 

Semi-Double 681 

Seminary 681 

Sentences, Master of 681 

Septuagesima 681 

Septuagint 681 

Sepulchre 681 

Sepulchre, Order of the Holy 682 

Seraphic Doctor 

Sequence 682 

Servile Work 682 

Servites 682 

Seven Dolors 654 

Sexagesima 682 

Sharing in Others' Sins 682 

Sign of the Cross 429 

Simony 682 

Simple Feast 682 

Sick Room, the 402 

Sick Calls 124 

Sin and Leprosy 602 

Single Tax 139 

Sin, Satisfaction for 323 

Sins of Thought 409 

Sins, "Varieties of 409 

Sin of Stealing 408 

Sins of Others 682 

Sister, First In America 77 

Sisters, Deference to 435 

First Community of 78 

" Locations of 78 



Varied Work of 79 

" American Orders of 79 

College 101 

" In Redemption Work .... 133 

" In Epidemics 86 

Sistine Chapel 322 

Sistine Choir 31 

History of 31 

Sixth Commandment 580 

Social Work of Church 124 

" " In Former Years .... 125 

Societies In 126 

" " Care of Orphans 129 

" Care of Derelics 129 

Sociologist, Our First 126 

Socialism 159 

" In America 160 

" Schisms in 162 

" Unchristian 162 

" And Marriage . . . ; 163 

" Leaders Views on 163 

And Mr. Shaw 164 

May Catholics Belong?... 617 

Socialist Labor Party 160 

Social Evil 134 

Societies, Forbidden 209, 210, 214 

Societies, Secret 209 

Knights of Pythias 214 
Knights of Pythias 209 
" " Sons of Temperance 209 

" " Masons 210 

Societies, of Catholic Men and Women 
Societies, Catholic Mutual Benefit 

Association 173 

Distrikt Verbund 187 

" Katholisher Vereinbund. 188 

Polish Societies 188 

Knights of Columbus ... 179 
Ancient Order of Hibern- 
ians 185 

" Women's Catholic Order 

of Foresters ......... 193 



718 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Societies, Knights of Columbus.... 189 
" Ladies' Catholic Benevo- 
lent Association 194 

Ladies' Aux., A. 0. H.... 194 
" Catholic Woman's 

League 196 

National Order Daugh- 
ters of Isabella 196 

Ladies of Isabella 196 

" National Circle, Daugh- 
ters of Isabella 197 

" Catholic Daughters of 

America 197 

Catholic Knights and La- 
dies of America 197 

Central Society 197 

Societies, Anti-Catholic 266 



Great American Fraternity 
Protestant Rangers 
Sons of Washington 
Guardians of Liberty 
National Legion of Path- 
finders 
Guardians of Liberty 
Knights of Luther 
Public School Defense 



League 

" Catholic Order of Fores- 
ters 188, 183 

Federation of Catholic Societies 183, 188 

Smuggling 325 

Society, Confession Effect on 602 

Social Reconstruction 138 

Sodality 682, 181 

Sons of Temperance 209 

Sorrowful Mysteries 682 

Soul 682 

Souls in Purgatory 607 

South America, Church in 59 

Solomon's Temple 364 

Spanish Inquisition 277 

Speech, Catholic Fashion of 453 



Species, Eucharistic 682 

Spirit of the Church 495 

Spiritual Bouquet 476 

Sponsors, Relation of 614 

Sponsors, Duties of 398 

Spiritism 170 

Phenomena of 171 

Explanation 171 

Ouija Board 172 

Sponsor 682 

Stage, The 587 

" Catholic Theatre Movement. 590 

" Prejudice and the 590 

State of Grace 682 

Statistics, Catholic 

Priests 67 

Parish Schools 68 

" State Population 68 

Canada 66 

Cities 68 

Stations of the Cross 384, 682 

Stations in Rome 683 

Stealing 408 

Stigmata 499, 633, 683 

Trial of 500 

of St. Francis 501 

Suicide 239 

Sunday, Observance of 387 

Missing Mass On 388 

Titles of 378 

Summer Religion 391 

Superstition 324 

Suspicion, Jealousy 535 

Suttees 234 

Mass for a 611 

Superioress 617 

Southern Confederacy, Papal Recog 

nition of 636 

Stocks 683 

Stole 683 

Stole-Fees 683 

Stoup 683 



INDEX. 



719 



Stylites 683 

Subdeacon 683 

Subject (of a Sacrament) 683 

Substance 683 

Suffragan Bishop 683 

Suffrage 683 

Sulpicians 683 

Sunday 683 

Surplice 683 

Supremacy of the Pope 683 

Suspension 683 

Synod 683 

T 

Tabernacle 684 

Blessed Sacrament . . . 622 

Taoism 233 

Targums 363 

Temporal Power 32 

of the Pope ... 32 

' " Acquisition of . . 32 

Loss of 33 

Te Deum 684 

Teaching, False 533 

Teaching, Church 535 

Teachers, Catholic 302 

Temple of Solomon 365 

Tertiary 684 

Temperance 684 

Tenebrae 684 

Telephone and Sick Calls 124 

Temper, Training of 575 

Temperance, Teaching on 327 

Testament, The Old 347 

Testament, The New 348 

Theatres, Attending 616 

Theater Movement, Catholic 590 

Thaumaturgus 684 

Theosophy 168 

Theosophy, Modern 168 



Theatines 684 

Theism 684 

Thanksgiving Day, Catholics and . . 338 

Theological Virtues 684 

Theology 684 

Third Orders 630, 684 

Three Hours 685 

Thurible 685 

Tiara 685 

Titles, Ecclesiastical 478 

Title of Father 478 

Titles to Order — 

Tithes 685 

Tonsure 685 

Tourists, Non-Catholic 259 

Torment, Length of Hell's 317 

Tomb of Our Lord, Prayer Found. 610 

Tradition 685 

Translation 685 

Transubstantiation 685 

Tradition, Bible 353 

Trappists 685 

Trance 175 

Training, Religious 123 

Treasury of the Church 685 

Triangle 685 

Triduum 685 

Trinitarians 686 

Trinity, Holy 686 

Truth, Champions of the 271 

Tribute, The Flag 449 

Truce of God 449 

Tunicle 686 

Tuesdays, Devotion of the Nine . . . 462 

Twilight Sleep 332 

u 

Umbrella 686 

United Greeks 686 



720 OUR FAITH AND THE FACTS. 



Unity 686 

Implies Co-operation 544 

Unitarians 220 

Universalists 221 

Universities, Catholic 90 

University Libraries 90 

Unity Implies Co-operation 544 

Urbi et Orbi 686 

Ursulines 686 

Use of Prayer Book 436 

Use of Saints' Names 617 

Usury 686 

Utraquism 247 



V 



Vain Observance 686 

Vatican, The 29, 686 

Vatican, History of the 29 

Vatican, Prisoner of the 30 

Vatican Council 686 

Varieties of Sin 409 

Veil 686 

Venerable - 687 

Venial Sin 687 

Vesper Service 628 

Veronica's Veil, St 687 

Vestments 687 

" Explanation of color in 370 

Rich 621 

Viaticum 400, 687 

" Danger of Delay 401 

Vicar 687 

Vicar Apostolic 687 

Vidi Aquam 687 

Virgil 687 

Vice, The Prevailing 580 

Vincent de Paul Society of St ... 687 
Virtue . , 687 



Vision, Beatific 687 

Visitation 687 

Visitation, Order of the 688 

Vivisection 331 

Vocal Prayer 688 

Vote, May Priests 616 

Vote, Should Women 559 

Vocation 688 

Vocation, to Refuse to Follow 633 

The Child's 568 

" Parental Objection to . . . 616 

To Religious Life 84 

Vocal Prayer 688 

Vote, the Catholic 291 

Votive Masses 688 

Vow 688 

Vulgate 688 

Revision of the 352 

w 

Way of the Cross 688 

Way of the Cross Indulgences ... 619 

War Activities at Home 58 

Washington's Eulogy of the Church 45 

Waldenses 225 

White Friars 688 

Whale, Jonas and the 355 

Whit Sunday 688 

Witchcraft 688 

Widow, May a Widow Become a 

Nun 619 

Works of Mercy, Corporal 688 

Works of Mercy, Spiritual 688 

Worship 688 

Public Consideration in . . 452 

World, Age of the 360 

Workers, Church for 472 

" Church Care of 135 

World, End of 609 



INDEX. 



721 



Women in Religious Orders 556 

Should They Vote? ...... 559 

Great Catholic 560 

" Traveling 563 

Women, Their Place in the Church 555 

Women's War Activities 51 

" Head Covering in Church 

Women's Societies 192 

" Catholic Order of Forest 

ers 193 

Council, National Cath- 
olic 51 

Woman Pope? 285 

Woman Among Early Christians.. 555 

Woman's Power 558 

Woman, Debt to 557 

The Greatest 563 

Wounds, Five 688 

Writers, Catholic 103 

" American 108 

Wyclif 247 



X 



Xaverian Brothers 688 

Y 

Year Book, Ecclesiastical 688 

Y. M. C. A 249 

Y. W. C. A 250 

Youth and Crime 574 

z 

Zelator 688 

Zucchetto 688 



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